Let’s be cautious to movies

07/04/2009 Nune HAKHVERDYAN

The National Cinema Center adjacent to the RA Ministry of Culture spread rumors that in the upcoming 62nd international movie festival of the Cannes in May the movie titled “Twisted Parallels” of Hovhannes Galstyan will be shown. The director of the Center Gevorg Gevorgyan informed that the movie will be shown during the week of movie critics and will meanwhile participate in the “Sight” competition. The surprising thing is that the selection of the movies to be shoed in the Cannes is not over and no one knows exactly which of the movies will be included and which will not. How come Gevorgyan knows the results of the selection of movies of the most prestigious cinema competition? The Cannes festival annually receives hundreds of thousand applications. The producer and director of the joint Norwegian-Armenian movie “Twisted Parallels,” who has the movie copyright asks the journalists not to run fast the time and not harm the further destiny of the movie. “As I am the owner of this movie I can only say that this movie was submitted and accepted to selection but the selection is not over yet. It will be over in two weeks and the Cannes Festival will give an official response only after that. I don’t know why the Cinema Center spreads such rumors. My movie is among 2769 movies sent to Cannes. And it’s not going to participate in the “Sight” competition and is not going to participate in official competitions,” he said. The author of the movie has sent a competition appeal to the alternative programs of Cannes, one of which is the program created by the Association of French Critics. Galstyan decided to participate in that competition by following the recommendation of movie critic Kiril Razlogov, who saw the “Twisted Parallels” in Moscow. He expressed an opinion that the movie was good and that it was a good start for the beginner in the international movie industry. And the other program, which the movie is planning to participate in, is the “Week of directors” and it is an unofficial program as well. Galstyan says, “If this movie is included in those programs it will be a big sensation. But even if it is not we won’t be shocked. I don’t want to cheat to myself as perfectly understand that the Cannes Festival is similar to world championship in sport. In past our only attempt of participating in the Cannes festival was through Frunze Dovlatyan’s “Hello, it’s me!” movie. It happened in 1967. At that time Armenia was inseparable from the Soviet Union and due to the central decision of Russia the movie was sent to the Cannes in 1967. The Cannes Festival does its best not to miss a single good movie. By saying this we may guess the number of moves that are sent to Cannes every year. And if Armenia was finally able to create a movie with many difficulties, the viewing of which won’t be shameful, then its reputation should be spoiled by incorrect PR.” Galstyan ensures that if this incorrect information reaches the organizers of the Cannes Festival then the movie will be automatically be deprived of the right to participate in the festival. “Fortunately we are a small and closed country and no one has any interest in us but if this information reaches the Cannes it will definitely harm the movie and all the doors will be closed for us. I ensure you once I receive an official response I will inform the media and the Cinema Center about that,” he says. The “Twisted Parallel” movie was something new for our movie industry, which was receiving support and money from international finds. It means that the movie to a certain extent is guaranteed from indifferent and grim fortune. The author is sure that it is possible to create a copyright movie and make money with that. “I want to prove the funds that the movie can bring money back, enter the international market and be considered a piece of art. When I prove this I will have the chance to speak more openly,” says Galstyan. By the way the budget of the movie was 582 thousand Euros and the most part of it is foreign money. It means that there was certain international involvement in the preparation of the movie, which means that the internationals will take care of the distribution of the movie abroad. By wishing good luck to this project we should say that sometimes the best help is not to harm. That’s how the doctors work and the Cinema Center should do the same.