The 2nd Annual Armenian Film Series (Boston, Mass.)

THE SECOND ANNUAL ARMENIAN FILM SERIES. To be held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  Sat., May 2—“We Drank The Same Water” (Nous Avons Bu Le Même Eau) by Serge Avedikian (France, 2007, 72 min.), begins at 4 p.m.. When Avedikian was invited to a theater festival in Istanbul in 1987, he could not resist crossing the Sea of Marmara to go and seek the town his Armenian grandfather lived in. The day he spent in this town left him with haunting memories. Incomplete, half-stolen images remained, revealing the furtive traces of an Armenian community forced to leave in the 1920’s. Most of the film centers on Avedikian’s return to Soloz in 2006 and attempts to restore the dialogue between Armenians and Turks and enable people to turn their minds to the future without forgetting their past. In French with English subtitles. Preceded by “Lux Auterna” and  “Terra Emota” by Serge Avedikian and Levon Minasian, two 10-minute film poems about the 1988 earthquake that destroyed the town of Leninakin in Armenia. Followed by  Q&A with the filmmaker. Tickets are $12 ($10 for members, seniors, and students). “The Mermaid” by Ana Melikian, produced by Rouben Dishdishyan (Russia, 2008, 100 min), begins at 8 p.m. The film is Russia’s 2009 entry for the Academy Awards. In this charming film, a young girl, Alisa, takes a vow of silence to protest her mother’s refusal to enroll her in ballet class. When her silence is mistaken for an intellectual disability, Alisa is sent to a special-needs school in a rural town. With the help of another student, Alisa discovers she can make people’s wishes come true.  When she turns 18 and moves to Moscow, she wonders if her extraordinary gift might also be a curse.  Similar in style and tone to the French hit “Amelie,” Mermaid features digital deception to enhance the fantastical elements. The original Russian title refers to the water sprit of Slavic myth, also referenced in Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.” In Russian with English subtitles. Preceded by “Ligne De Vie” by Serge Avedikian, an animated short about the Holocaust. Tickets are $12 ($10). For more information on the films and filmmaker, visit www.armeniandrama.org. For tickets, visit www.mfa.org or call the MFA Box Office at (617) 369-3306. For ads in the program, email annc2@aol.com.