The farm of the skylarks : Taviani Brothers' Remind Mankind About Armenian Genocide

In July 6, 2005 Noyan Tapan reported that famous Italian film-makers Vitorio and Paolo Taviani brothers , who won a prize at the "Golden Globe" Rome film festival, are going to shoot a film about the Armenian Genocide.

According to the "Marmara" Istanbul daily, the film-makers declared this at the press conference that followed the ceremony of prize distribution. The film on the Armenian Genocide will cost 15 millon euros.

Taviani brothers mentioned that they want to remind the mankind about the events that took place at the beginning of the previous century.



They film will be based on the Italian novel 'La masseria delle allodole' (The farm of the skylarks). The story, which is partly based on the personal memories of the author Antonia Arslan, tells the story of the exodus of the women of an Armenian family who escape their 'Farm of Skylarks' after all the men, including the children of their family have been savagely murdered there by the Turks. The film will be produced by Grazia Volpi, who previously collaborated with the Taviani brothers on the Tolstoy adaptation 'Resurrezione' (Resurrection).


The Star

In February 28, 2006 Toronto Star reported that Arsinée Khanjian , will be going to Bulgaria to star in a new movie by the Taviani brothers about the Armenian genocide.

About the movie and her role, Khanjian said:

"It's based on a novel that won a lot of awards, it's set in World War I. My character belongs to a family living in Turkey under the Ottoman Empire."

She was delighted to have a chance to work with the Taviani brothers, who have long been on her list of cinematic heroes, especially because of Padre, Padrone (which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1977).
She feels lucky that the legendary Italians would be interested in the subject of the Armenian genocide. Much of the shooting will take place in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, where Armenian architecture of more than 100 years ago still exists.
One thing is guaranteed. Khanjian, who figured prominently in Egoyan's controversial Ararat, will go down in cinema history as the only actor ever to star in two movies about the Armenian genocide.


The Recent Development

In a recent development, The Council of Europe Eurimages Fund Board of Management agreed at its 99th meeting held on 5 to 7 March 2006 in Strasbourg, to support 9 feature films for a total amount of 3,622,000 Euros. Taviani Brothers' film about the Armenian Genocide was one of those supported films.

Yesterday, Turkish newspaper Zaman Online reported in an article titled "Genocide Movie with Turkish Money" , that The Council of Europe decided to give financial support to the Italian movie "The farm of the skylarks." Expressing the protest of Turkish government for that decision for the reasons explained in the Zaman's report below.

The Council of Europe foundation Eurimages decided to allocate 600,000 euros to Italian Taviani Brothers' new film titled "The farm of the skylarks," which was adapted from Armenian originated Antoni Aslan's novel after its last meeting in Strasbourg.

Euroimages', to which Turkey contributes a million euros yearly, drew reaction from Ankara. Turkish Representative to Eurimages, Ihsan Kabil, told Zaman that the movie insults the Turkish army and calls an army officer a "donkey."

The meeting in Strasbourg was reported to host many discussions about this issue. All members, except Turkey, approved the financial aid for the film, which had previously been approved by a 23-member jury early this week.

Kabil said Ankara could not prevent the decision despite its diplomatic efforts. He further noted Eurimages's French Chairman Jacques Toubon was quite influential in the decision. "Touban delivered a 15 minute speech during the meeting and explicitly supported the so-called Armenian Genocide. He said Turkey committed the genocide, acting as if he was talking about a historical fact rather than an unproven claim." Kabil and Ahmet Boyacioglu, Turkey's representatives in Eurimages, gave speeches to criticize Toubon's speech and the film.

Toubon, also a European Parliament (EP) Deputy, is known to be a supporter of the Armenian Genocide, Zaman noted.