THE ARMENIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF BOSTON

From Ararat to Zion

The Fifth Column

Mount Athos: The Monk’s Republic

From Ararat to Zion
by Edgar Baghdasaryan
(documentary, 2009, 70 min.)

Following the paths taken by Armenian Pilgrims over the last 2000 years, this documentary is a tribute to those who have contributed to the preservation of spiritual traditions and a Christian legacy in the Holy Land. Striking scenes of the Church of Holy Sepulcher by night, the colorful spectacles of Easter in Jerusalem, the Ceremony of Holy Light, Mount Sinai in Egypt, the monasteries of the Judean Desert, and the summit of Mount Ararat create exquisite visual tapestries.

The Fifth Column (Hinkerort Zorasune)
by Vatche Boulghourjian
(digibeta, 29 min., in Armenian with English subtitles)

Weaving together allegorical narratives, this film chronicles the desperation and mourning in the economically and culturally marginalized Armenian quarter of Beirut. As a father searches for his son who has fled home, both discover paths to personal freedom in a city that offers no escape. The Fifth Column won the third prize CINEFOUNDATION at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival.

Mount Athos: The Monk’s Republic
by Eddy Vicken
(documentary, 2009, 52 min., Armenian with English subtitles)
Mount Athos is an autonomous theocratic republic with its own distinctive government, police, parliament, and customs that has remained strictly separate from the outside world. For the first time since it was founded by a Byzantine Emperor in 963 in northern Greece, this forbidden territory opens up to outsiders—and cameras—to reveal the complexities and beauty of a hidden society.