“The Lark Farm” not premiered in order to avoid controversy?

19.02.2007

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Critics argue that some of the best films in Berlin this year were outside the main lineup. “This year a buzz may have been created by "The Lark Farm," a drama depicting the tragedy of a family almost wiped out in the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915,” The Boston Globe reports. The newspaper reminds that Turkey denies allegations by Armenia and others that 1.5 million Armenians died in systematic genocide at Turkish hands.

How long will the world tiptoe around Turkish sensitivity? Is nit not about time that Turkey faces the inevitable and reconciles itself with its past?

“The film comes at precisely the right time-after the murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and threats against the Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk. It would have been a highlight of the Berlinale, perhaps the most important film of the year. But it's not in the main section. Perhaps they wanted to avoid the big controversy. How unfortunate,” wrote Peter Zander of the German newspaper Die Welt.

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s film “Masseria delle Allodole” (Skylark’s Farm) shot on the basis of Antonia Arslan’s novel tells about the Armenians Genocide through the story of a family which lives in Western Armenia and awaits the arrival of their parents from Italy. Alas, the First World War prevents this family from joining and the family members became victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Turks. This film with total budget of 9,7M € is a co-product by Italy, Spain, Belgium, France and Eurimages. In “The Lark Farm” Canadian-Armenian actress Arsine Khanjian, Alessandro Preziosi, Ángela Molina and others play key roles.

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