From Ararat to Zion Armenia / Egypt / Israel / Turkey
2009, 71min.
Producer: Fr. Mesrop Aramyan, Director: Edgar Baghdasaryan, Script: Fr. Mesrop Aramyan, Director of Photography: Ruben Gasparyan, Composer: Ara Torosyan, Sound: Roy Renza, Editor: Artak Dokholyan
The colorful mosaic of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land has been shaped over two thousand years. Pilgrims have brought their stories with them, and left their memories with the land. Here the documentary filmmakers have presented us with a view of some of the essential parts of these stories, revealing the precious identities, which the stories preserve. They follow the paths taken by Armenian pilgrims traveling between two focal points of history – from the Mount Ararat to Zion, from A to Z. The documentary depicts the spirit of pilgrimage, which has nurtured and sustained the sanctuaries and monasteries of the Holy Land over the centuries. At the cost of immeasurable sacrifices and exertions, pilgrims have come to the Holy Shrines to witness the presence of God on Earth. Though these special places may have been put on display many times before, they emerge anew in this film, revealing their otherworldly essence and life-transforming power. The film shows such striking scenes as the 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, the summit of Mount Ararat.
Awards
Best European Documentary (Swansea Bay FF, 2010)
Production Company
Vem Media Arts
19A Koriun Street
0009 Yerevan, Armenia
Tel: (374 10) 541595
Fax: (374 10) 541595
E-mail: info@vem.am
www.vem.am
| Baghdasaryan, Edgar Edgar Baghdasaryan (born 1964 Yerevan)
Graduated from Veterinary Institute of Yerevan in 1985. He created his first amateur film when he was sixteen. Since 1988 he has worked in Hayfilm and Haik Film Studios, at first as an assistant director, then as a film director. His films were presented in international film festivals in Moscow, Gothenburg, Montreal, Varna, Magdeburg, Toulouse, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, etc.
Filmography
Games (1990), Flow (1997), The Lands of Holy Rites (2001), Mariam (2005), From Ararat to Zion (2009)
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