“Voyage to Amasia,” a new documentary film by Randy Bell and Eric V. Hachikian, will have its Boston premiere at the historic Studio Cinema in Belmonton Sun., Oct. 28, the Armenian Weekly informs.
The film had its world premiere at the Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto in December 2011, where it won the prize for Best Documentary. It has also screened at the 2012 Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan, the Minneapolis International Film Festival, and the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, and in November it will screen at the St. Louis International Film Festival.
“Voyage to Amasia” documents composer Eric Hachikian’s return to his ancestral home—Amasia, Turkey—nearly 100 years after Ottoman soldiers deported his grandmother, Helen Shushan, during the Armenian Genocide. A long-time Belmont resident, Helen Shushan was active in many local cultural and educational organizations, including those sponsoring this event. The film is set to Eric’s piano trio of the same name, which provided the initial inspiration for the documentary.
“Voyage to Amasia” traces a path through the past, honoring Eric’s relationship with his grandmother and uncovering what her family’s life in Turkey might have been like. It also explores how the events of nearly a century ago continue to strain the relationship between Armenians and Turks today. Inspired by one family’s story, the filmmakers embark on their own journey in the hopes of finding a greater understanding between two peoples still at odds.
