Turkish TV station to air Egoyan's 'Ararat'
12 Apr 2006
CBC Arts
More than two years after its original theatrical release date, Atom Egoyan's film Ararat will officially air in Turkey on a private TV station.
The spokesperson for station Kanalturk told Agence France-Presse that it will broadcast Egoyan's award-winning film – "without cuts or censoring" – on Thursday.
The spokesperson said the decision was made after a recent poll found that 72 per cent of the survey participants supported broadcasting the film, which examines the impact of the Armenian genocide by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923.
The station also had conducted a round-table discussion between intellectuals and both Turkish and Armenian historians about the controversial period.
Released in 2002 and the winner of five Genie Awards, including best picture, Ararat was initially approved for a theatrical release by Turkey's government, despite its feeling that the film was "ridiculous propaganda."
A local company purchased distribution rights for Ararat and planned to have the film premiere in Ankara and Istanbul in mid-January 2004. However, a Turkish group threatened theatre owners planning to screen the film and the company postponed the release indefinitely, fearing violence from right-wing extremists.
During the First World War, Turkish troops put down an Armenian uprising and Armenians say about 1.5 million people were killed by the Ottoman Turks during the eight-year campaign.
Turkey has always claimed that the number of Armenians killed is inflated and denies responsibility for the deaths. The country has long fought attempts by Armenians and international human rights organizations to have the events declared a genocide.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
CBC Arts
More than two years after its original theatrical release date, Atom Egoyan's film Ararat will officially air in Turkey on a private TV station.
The spokesperson for station Kanalturk told Agence France-Presse that it will broadcast Egoyan's award-winning film – "without cuts or censoring" – on Thursday.
The spokesperson said the decision was made after a recent poll found that 72 per cent of the survey participants supported broadcasting the film, which examines the impact of the Armenian genocide by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923.
The station also had conducted a round-table discussion between intellectuals and both Turkish and Armenian historians about the controversial period.
Released in 2002 and the winner of five Genie Awards, including best picture, Ararat was initially approved for a theatrical release by Turkey's government, despite its feeling that the film was "ridiculous propaganda."
A local company purchased distribution rights for Ararat and planned to have the film premiere in Ankara and Istanbul in mid-January 2004. However, a Turkish group threatened theatre owners planning to screen the film and the company postponed the release indefinitely, fearing violence from right-wing extremists.
During the First World War, Turkish troops put down an Armenian uprising and Armenians say about 1.5 million people were killed by the Ottoman Turks during the eight-year campaign.
Turkey has always claimed that the number of Armenians killed is inflated and denies responsibility for the deaths. The country has long fought attempts by Armenians and international human rights organizations to have the events declared a genocide.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 4:19 PM
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