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NY HAMAZKAYIN SCREENS TJEKNAVORIAN'S 'ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE'
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2013/02/06/ny-hamazkayin-screens-tjeknavorians-enemy-of-the-people/
February 6, 2013
By Arto Khrimian
On Sun., Jan. 27, the New York chapter of the Hamazkayin Educational
and Cultural Society held a screening in the Pashalian Hall of St.
Illuminator's Cathedral of the documentary film "Enemy of the People:
Armenians Look Back at the Stalin Terror," directed and produced by
Zareh Tjeknavorian.
"Enemy of the People: Armenians Look Back at the Stalin Terror"
Dr. Ara Caprielian, the chairman of Hamazkayin of New York, during
his welcoming remarks expressed his gratitude to Rev. Fr. Mesrob
Lakissian for making the Pashalian Hall available for such cultural
events. He then introduced Zareh Tjeknavorian to the audience.
Tjeknavorian was born in Fargo, N.D., but grew up in a cosmopolitan
and international environment, as his father, composer and conductor
Loris Tjeknavorian, toured in various countries. Zareh Tjeknavorian
thus lived in San Francisco, New York, Iran, London, Germany, Paris,
and Armenia. He graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York
University, in 1992, with a bachelor's degree in film and television
production.
"Enemy of the People," narrated by Eric Bogosian, is Tjeknavorian's
most widely known documentary film, and depicts Stalinist oppression in
Armenia. National Geographic Magazine recommended it as one of three
must-see films about Armenia, along with "The Color of Pomegranates"
by Sergei Parajanov and "Ararat" by Atom Egoyan.
In the documentary, Tjeknavorian interlaces black and white archival
film with his original color footage of interviews and scenes. It
opens with a scene of Joseph Stalin's funeral procession. Thousands
of mourners wait in line to pay their last respects. Then, a direct
quote from Stalin eerily encapsulates the historic perspective of his
terror: "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions,
only statistics."
During Stalin's reign, from the early 1930's until his death in 1953, a
terror campaign swept the USSR; nearly 25 million people were executed
or exiled to "gulags," or forced-labor camps, in remote areas of the
Soviet Union. Armenia suffered dearly from Stalin's terror, as nearly
each citizen was turned into either an informant or a victim.
The latter were accused of being "enemies of the people." Stalin
demanded conformity for the good of the state, rationalizing that
since he represented the state, to be against him meant to be against
the revolution. Thus, Stalin coerced the entire society into becoming
accomplices to his crime.
The heart-wrenching interviews with survivors of the gulags and the
children of the prisoners who perished reveal that common working
people, along with innocent intellectuals, were persecuted and exiled,
and many disappeared without a trace. Against the archival footage
depicting the torturous labor in the gulags, the film juxtaposes
new footage that shows the unearthing of human bones from an obscure
mass grave in a newly developed residential area in Armenia. Later,
the documentary shows one of Stalin's "glorious" speeches, in which
he promises-to a fervently applauding crowd-to protect the Soviet
people: "[I will protect] the working class, the peasants, and the
intelligentsia." Those people, particularly the intelligentsia,
were the very same people whose lives were destroyed by his paranoid
oppression.
Although "Enemy of the People" is a documentary, Tjeknavorian, with
his artful filming and skillful editing, succeeds in adding subtle
drama and suspense to his work. At the finale, the audience wishes
it were much longer than 58 minutes.
"Frankly, I was green when I made this film," he said during the
question-and-answer segment of the program. This was his first
full-length film, commissioned by Louise Simone of the Armenian
General Benevolent Union (AGBU). "I would do it a little differently
today." Tjeknavorian also explained that he had no choice but to
edit out some of his favorite parts, so that it could be shown on
public television.
Yet, he is quite happy with the entirety of the work, which includes
more than 200 interviews and about 100 hours of documentary footage.
He went to the most remote corners of the Soviet Union to film the
places Armenians were exiled. Tjeknavorian also interviewed former
members of the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) and
the Soviet secret police, as well as officials. His contacts helped
him find surviving Armenian victims. Those interviews are of historic
value now that most of the interviewees/witnesses have passed away.
Among very many valuable interviews, he mentioned an interview with
Elena Bonner (Lusik Alikhanyan), who was a human rights activist in
the Soviet Union and the wife of the renowned physicist and dissident,
Andrei Sakharov. "That interview was very interesting, but I could not
include her in this film because it would not fit into the storyline,"
he said.
Tjeknavorian also mentioned the attempts made by certain apologists
to whitewash the truth about Stalin's terror, also known as the Great
Purge, and to absolve him of his despicable crimes. Such efforts,
however, eventually turn out to be futile in light of the truth and
the verdict of historians.
Tyrants such as Talaat Pasha, Hitler, and Stalin were avid students
of history, and they cautiously promoted a positive, admirable image
of themselves during their reign. Now that history has identified
them as the greatest villains of human kind, can we hope that future
tyrants will think twice before committing another purge or genocide?
At the conclusion of the program, Caprielian invited Fr. Mesrob
Lakissian to the podium to give closing remarks. Fr. Mesrob expressed
his pleasure at seeing such a poignant film, congratulated Zareh
Tjeknavorian on his accomplishment, and presented him with a
beautifully crafted miniature replica of the Armenian Genocide
Commemoration Monument erected in Antelias, Lebanon. He also praised
Caprielian and the Hamazkayin Board members for organizing the
function. In response to Caprielian's expression of gratitude for
making the Pashalian Hall available without charge for such events,
Fr. Mesrob said, "We renovated the Pashalian Hall for that very same
purpose. Anytime you organize a cultural event, the hall is yours.
This is also your cultural home."
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2013/02/06/ny-hamazkayin-screens-tjeknavorians-enemy-of-the-people/
February 6, 2013
By Arto Khrimian
On Sun., Jan. 27, the New York chapter of the Hamazkayin Educational
and Cultural Society held a screening in the Pashalian Hall of St.
Illuminator's Cathedral of the documentary film "Enemy of the People:
Armenians Look Back at the Stalin Terror," directed and produced by
Zareh Tjeknavorian.
"Enemy of the People: Armenians Look Back at the Stalin Terror"
Dr. Ara Caprielian, the chairman of Hamazkayin of New York, during
his welcoming remarks expressed his gratitude to Rev. Fr. Mesrob
Lakissian for making the Pashalian Hall available for such cultural
events. He then introduced Zareh Tjeknavorian to the audience.
Tjeknavorian was born in Fargo, N.D., but grew up in a cosmopolitan
and international environment, as his father, composer and conductor
Loris Tjeknavorian, toured in various countries. Zareh Tjeknavorian
thus lived in San Francisco, New York, Iran, London, Germany, Paris,
and Armenia. He graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York
University, in 1992, with a bachelor's degree in film and television
production.
"Enemy of the People," narrated by Eric Bogosian, is Tjeknavorian's
most widely known documentary film, and depicts Stalinist oppression in
Armenia. National Geographic Magazine recommended it as one of three
must-see films about Armenia, along with "The Color of Pomegranates"
by Sergei Parajanov and "Ararat" by Atom Egoyan.
In the documentary, Tjeknavorian interlaces black and white archival
film with his original color footage of interviews and scenes. It
opens with a scene of Joseph Stalin's funeral procession. Thousands
of mourners wait in line to pay their last respects. Then, a direct
quote from Stalin eerily encapsulates the historic perspective of his
terror: "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions,
only statistics."
During Stalin's reign, from the early 1930's until his death in 1953, a
terror campaign swept the USSR; nearly 25 million people were executed
or exiled to "gulags," or forced-labor camps, in remote areas of the
Soviet Union. Armenia suffered dearly from Stalin's terror, as nearly
each citizen was turned into either an informant or a victim.
The latter were accused of being "enemies of the people." Stalin
demanded conformity for the good of the state, rationalizing that
since he represented the state, to be against him meant to be against
the revolution. Thus, Stalin coerced the entire society into becoming
accomplices to his crime.
The heart-wrenching interviews with survivors of the gulags and the
children of the prisoners who perished reveal that common working
people, along with innocent intellectuals, were persecuted and exiled,
and many disappeared without a trace. Against the archival footage
depicting the torturous labor in the gulags, the film juxtaposes
new footage that shows the unearthing of human bones from an obscure
mass grave in a newly developed residential area in Armenia. Later,
the documentary shows one of Stalin's "glorious" speeches, in which
he promises-to a fervently applauding crowd-to protect the Soviet
people: "[I will protect] the working class, the peasants, and the
intelligentsia." Those people, particularly the intelligentsia,
were the very same people whose lives were destroyed by his paranoid
oppression.
Although "Enemy of the People" is a documentary, Tjeknavorian, with
his artful filming and skillful editing, succeeds in adding subtle
drama and suspense to his work. At the finale, the audience wishes
it were much longer than 58 minutes.
"Frankly, I was green when I made this film," he said during the
question-and-answer segment of the program. This was his first
full-length film, commissioned by Louise Simone of the Armenian
General Benevolent Union (AGBU). "I would do it a little differently
today." Tjeknavorian also explained that he had no choice but to
edit out some of his favorite parts, so that it could be shown on
public television.
Yet, he is quite happy with the entirety of the work, which includes
more than 200 interviews and about 100 hours of documentary footage.
He went to the most remote corners of the Soviet Union to film the
places Armenians were exiled. Tjeknavorian also interviewed former
members of the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) and
the Soviet secret police, as well as officials. His contacts helped
him find surviving Armenian victims. Those interviews are of historic
value now that most of the interviewees/witnesses have passed away.
Among very many valuable interviews, he mentioned an interview with
Elena Bonner (Lusik Alikhanyan), who was a human rights activist in
the Soviet Union and the wife of the renowned physicist and dissident,
Andrei Sakharov. "That interview was very interesting, but I could not
include her in this film because it would not fit into the storyline,"
he said.
Tjeknavorian also mentioned the attempts made by certain apologists
to whitewash the truth about Stalin's terror, also known as the Great
Purge, and to absolve him of his despicable crimes. Such efforts,
however, eventually turn out to be futile in light of the truth and
the verdict of historians.
Tyrants such as Talaat Pasha, Hitler, and Stalin were avid students
of history, and they cautiously promoted a positive, admirable image
of themselves during their reign. Now that history has identified
them as the greatest villains of human kind, can we hope that future
tyrants will think twice before committing another purge or genocide?
At the conclusion of the program, Caprielian invited Fr. Mesrob
Lakissian to the podium to give closing remarks. Fr. Mesrob expressed
his pleasure at seeing such a poignant film, congratulated Zareh
Tjeknavorian on his accomplishment, and presented him with a
beautifully crafted miniature replica of the Armenian Genocide
Commemoration Monument erected in Antelias, Lebanon. He also praised
Caprielian and the Hamazkayin Board members for organizing the
function. In response to Caprielian's expression of gratitude for
making the Pashalian Hall available without charge for such events,
Fr. Mesrob said, "We renovated the Pashalian Hall for that very same
purpose. Anytime you organize a cultural event, the hall is yours.
This is also your cultural home."