The Hamazkayin Film Committee presents The 5th Annual Pomegranate Film Festival.
While our summer vacations may be slowly drawing to a close, the fall season promises to be an exciting time with the upcoming 5th Annual Pomegranate Film Festival, also known as POM V. This year’s film event will take place October 22-24, 2010.
Founded in 2006, the Pomegranate Film Festival, presented by Hamazkayin Toronto, has taken pride in presenting the works of local and international artists, and has developed into a rich cultural experience for attendees. The festival continues to promote an extensive range of film genres including: documentaries, shorts, award-winning features, and the experimental. Both established and new filmmakers have enjoyed partaking in the festival each year, where they are able to showcase their diverse artistic visions. An important mission of the festival has been to encourage the talents of emerging Armenian artists, made possible through the generosity of POM grants generated by the festival’s sponsors.
Festival participants have also come to look forward to the Gala, which combines film entertainment with great food and conversation. This year’s POM V Co-Chair, Sally Sahagian, is delighted that 2010 marks the fifth anniversary of the annual event and encourages everyone to come out and experience all that it has to offer.
Festival Co-Chair Sevag Yeghoyan adds; “This year’s program promises to be truly engaging and shouldn’t be missed!”
Movie buffs and all those interested in being inspired by the Armenian artistic community indeed have much to anticipate in this year’s POM V. Some of this year’s films include: Atom Egoyan’s recent thriller Chloe and the Venezuelan blockbuster, Venezzia, directed by Haik Ghazarian. Actor/Director Serge Avedikian, who presented his moving documentary We Drank the Same Water at the 2008 Festival, has submitted his latest film Chienne d’Histoire (Barking Island), winner of the Cannes Festival’s Palme d’Or 2010 award. Also, Turkish Director Mehmet Binay’s anticipated sequel to Whispering Memories, Talking Pictures will make its Canadian debut. Binay’s short film was inspired by a chance encounter with a desendent (Ghazaros Kerjilian) of the historic Armenian village of Geben in Cilicia at the 2008 Pomegranate Film Festival.
The creative Shammasian brothers from the United Kingdom, who had captivated Toronto audiences with Romans 12:20 and The Carriage Way, are back with the world premier of Akhtamar, a modern version of an Armenian legend. While American director Bared Maronian will also present his well researched film Komitas Hayrig. This year’s program will also include a movie called Horizon directed by Sevag Sagherian and Co-directed by Serge Keshishian written by Ara Sagherian; Arev Manoukian’s Nuit Blanche; and Dr. Lorne Shirinian’s So Far From Home. Dr. Shirinian, a professor at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, is the son of Armenian orphans who met in Georgetown, Ontario and he follows in the footsteps of his own son Emmanuel Shirinian whose previous involvement in the Pomegranate Film Festival included The Last Bang and Song of Sloman. Shirinian’s short is a gripping piece that many Canadian Armenians and those throughout the Diaspora will be able to closely relate to.
