2nd Annual Worcester Armenian Film Festival to Present Two Films by Nigol Bezjian

WORCESTER, Mass.—The ARF Worcester “Aram” Gomideh, the AYF Worcester “Aram” Chapter, the ARS Worcester “Knar” Chapter, and Worcester State University will be screening two films in November by filmmaker Nigol Bezjian.

The poster of “Milk, Carnation, and a Godly Song”

The first film, “I Left My Shoes in Istanbul,” closely follows the journey of a Lebanese-Armenian modernist poet who embarks on a journey that has been delayed for a century—to his ancestral city of Istanbul, where he finds his cultural and literary roots. The journey takes viewers to the old streets of Istanbul, once populated by Armenians, to the ancient cemeteries and the poets buried there, to the old churches and the more than a century-old high school. He meets the young and old, the famed and humble, Armenians and Turks; listens to their stories, their opinions; laughs and shares food with them.

The second film, “Milk, Carnation, and a Godly Song,” delves into the literary legacy of Daniel Varoujan, one of the pillars of Armenian literature. Through a close analysis of his poetry by renowned experts, viewers get a glimpse of how Armenian literary thinking evolved from pagan times up to 2010, when on April 24 in Istanbul, a public commemoration in memory of the Armenian Genocide was held for the first time.

Nigol Bezjian was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1955. He graduated from high school in South Boston, Mass. After completing his cinema studies at the School of Visual arts in New York, he received a BFA and subsequently completed his post-graduate cinema studies at UCLA, with an MFA in film production, history, and critical and theoretical studies. He has made several films and received numerous awards and global festival screenings, notably for his “Chickpeas,” “Roads Full of Apricots,” “Muron,” “Verve,” and “Home/Land.” Bezjian is currently a senior TV producer in the Middle East.

“I Left My Shoes in Istanbul” will be screened on Fri., Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. “Milk, Carnation, and a Godly Song” will be screened on Sat., Nov. 22 at 1 p.m. Bezjian will be present at both screenings to introduce the films and answer questions. The screenings are free and open to the public, and will be held in the Ghosh Science and Technology Center, Auditorium ST102, at Worcester State University, 486 Chandler St., Worcester.