"Spitak" - LA premiere of film about Armenia quake set for Dec 7December 5, 2018 - 10:56 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - “Spitak”, Armenia’s submission in the foreign language category for the 2019 Academy Awards, is set for its Los Angeles premiere on Friday, December 7 at the Laemmle Glendale. The feature is about an earthquake that devastated the country in 1988, but the film is surprisingly quiet. According to an article published by Glendale News Press, Hysteria, panic and tears are depicted minimally. Even the quake registers as an understatement. Instead, Kott focuses on the hard physical and emotional work that follows. At the center is protagonist, Ghor (Lernik Harutyunyan), who returns to Spitak, the city that was at the quake’s epicenter, to find his wife and daughter, who he left behind to pursue a new life in Moscow. What he finds are locals and their relatives struggling to find their loved ones — dead or alive — amid heaps of rubble, debris and bodies. Composer Serj Tankian said he sought to develop a modern, minimalist score with piano, strings, woodwinds and arpeggiated pad-type instruments to contrast the movie’s darker themes. While Kott said Glendale is an ideal screening location, given its large Armenian and Armenian-American population, he expressed worry that many in attendance may have painful memories stirred up because of their personal connection to the tragedy. Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. U.S. welcomes efforts to define Armenia-Azerbaijan border The United States welcomes efforts to define the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, says Vedant Patel. Biden honors resilience of Armenian people on April 24 U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a statement on the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Ex-Karabakh leader moved to solitary confinement cell in Baku, his son says David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. |