My Son Shall Be Armenian
Between 1915 and 1923, one and a half million Armenians were massacred by the Turkish Ottoman army. Since then, this people with a 3000-year history has struggled against oblivion and for official recognition of what was the first genocide of the 20th century. Filmmaker Hagop Goudsouzian and five Montrealers of Armenian descent return to the land of their forebears in search of survivors of the 1915 genocide.
At the outset of this six-year adventure, Goudsouzian intended to retrace the deportees' route through the Syrian desert to the banks of the Euphrates, where thousands of Armenians were massacred. Just hours before their departure, however, Syrian authorities refused to issue visas to the travellers, forcing the filmmaker to switch course. The little band then combed the Armenian countryside to find survivors. Goudsouzian weaves the moving accounts of these centenarians and the touching, at times droll, reactions of the New World travellers into a dignified and poignant film about the need to make peace with the past in order to move into the future.
At the outset of this six-year adventure, Goudsouzian intended to retrace the deportees' route through the Syrian desert to the banks of the Euphrates, where thousands of Armenians were massacred. Just hours before their departure, however, Syrian authorities refused to issue visas to the travellers, forcing the filmmaker to switch course. The little band then combed the Armenian countryside to find survivors. Goudsouzian weaves the moving accounts of these centenarians and the touching, at times droll, reactions of the New World travellers into a dignified and poignant film about the need to make peace with the past in order to move into the future.
| Director: | Hagop Goudsouzian |
| Studio: | National Film Board of Canada |
| Producer(s): | Yves Bisaillon |
| Cast: | Hagop Goudsouzian, Lousnak Abdalian, Gabriella Djerrahian, Martine Batani, Garo Shamlian, Patrick Masbourian |
| Official Site: | www.nfb.ca/mysonshallbearmenian/ |
