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Arby Ovanessian

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Iranian-Armenian film director and stage director
Arby Ovanessian
آربی اوانسیان
BornFebruary 20, 1942
New Julfa, Iran
Other namesԱրբի Յովհաննիսեան
CitizenshipIranian, French
Alma materLondon Film School
Known forTheartre and film director

Arby Ovanessian (b. February 20, 1942; Persian: آربی اوانسیان Armenian: Արբի Յովհաննիսեան) is an Iranian-Armenian film director and stage director living in Paris.

Biography

Arby Ovanessian was born on February 20, 1942, in New Julfa, the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, founded in 1606 by Shah Abbas I. This area is a significant cultural center for Armenians in Iran, named after the city of Julfa in Nakhichevan, from where many Armenians were deported by the Safavid Shah. After completing his university studies in Tehran, he went on to study film at the London Film School (1963–1966). There, he created "Parvana," an animated film directed by Richard Williams, which represented the United Kingdom at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

Upon returning to Iran, he consistently combined theater and cinema. He joined the selection committee of the Shiraz Arts Festival, which allowed him to discover a young, previously unknown writer and newspaper seller, Abbas Nalbandian. He staged a memorable production of "A New, Profound, and Important Research on the Fossils of the Twenty-Fifth Geological Era" for the festival's second edition.

In 1970, Peter Brook invited him to participate in the experimental research at the International Center for Theatre Research. He collaborated with Brook on the staging of "Orgast" by English poet Ted Hughes at the Shiraz Arts Festival. From 1970 to 1976, he worked with directors such as Jerzy Grotowski (Special Project) and Andrei Serban (The Master and Margarita). In 1976, he co-founded the Charsoo Theatre in Tehran with Sadr al-Din Zahed.

He moved to Paris in 1979, after the Islamic Revolution, despite not speaking French. Since then, he has continued to promote Armenian culture tirelessly.

He is one of the most fervent advocates of experimentation in theater and cinema. His theatrical productions have been presented at numerous festivals around the world and at the Théâtre des Nations.

He refuses to consider his theater as political, stating in 1979: "The occurrence of a revolution does not mean that the artist himself becomes revolutionary, but it means that what he believed in has come to fruition. Creation is always revolutionary, but it constantly evolves. Whereas, in terms of politics... sometimes things come to a halt."

Works

He has directed dozens of productions in four different languages: English, French, Persian, and Armenian.

Theater productions directed

Films directed

  • 1964: The Mask
  • 1965: Parvanna
  • 1967: Lebbeus in the Name of Thaddeus. Ghara Kelisa
  • 1972: La Source
  • 1985: How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life
  • 2006: Rouben Mamoulian, The Golden Age of Broadway and Hollywood
  • 2019: Haratch 83; Known and Unknown Portrait, a documentary about Arpik Missakian, the former editor-in-chief of Haratch

References

  1. Le Courrier de l'UNESCO, Dec.1990 : https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000087651_fre/PDF/087663freo.pdf.multi.nameddest=87651
  2. "The Shiraz Arts Festival: A Global Vision Revisited". thoughtgallery.org. 2013.
  3. "L'espace contesté : la métapolitique du Festival des arts de Shiraz-Persépolis" (PDF). valimahlouji.com (in French).
  4. Le Théâtre D-Nué : http://letheatrednue.free.fr/direteurartistique.htm
  5. Le Monde, Mathilde La Bardonnie, 25 octobre 1979 : https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1979/10/25/arby-ovanessian-ouvert-sur-le-monde_2790861_1819218.html
  6. https://www.norharatch.com/entretien-avec-le-metteur-en-scene-arby-ovanessian_67994A7DB471B2.html
  7. Abbas Milani (2008). Eminent Persians: The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979. Syracuse (N.Y.)/New York (N.Y.): Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0.
  8. Le Monde, 25 octobre 1979, ibid.
  9. The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Volume 5: Asia/Pacific, Katherine Brisbane, Ravi Chaturvedi, Ramendu Majumdar, Chua Soo Pong, Minoru Tanokura Routledge, 16 août 2005 -https://books.google.ae/books?id=dveJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT492&lpg=PT492&dq=handke+ovanessian&source=bl&ots=JU0r1kc4NK&sig=ACfU3U3LUhPp9jNgamNiTuD3H7If5GTQ0Q&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlt4XU-KDtAhXRGuwKHcyXBG0Q6AEwD3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=handke%20ovanessian&f=false
  10. Université de Mocton : https://www.umoncton.ca/nouvelles/info.php?page=communiques2007&id=5106&campus_selection=m
  11. "Arby Ovanessian, La Dame au petit chien". festival-automne.com (in French).
  12. "Programme 1979-1980" (PDF). centrepompidou.fr (in French).
  13. Michel Cournot (27 November 1979). "Théâtre "La Dame au petit chien". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  14. "Programme 1979-1980" (PDF). centrepompidou.fr (in French).
  15. "Lebbeus In the Name of Thaddeus, réalisé par Arby Ovanessian". mubi.com.
  16. Film visible sur Vimeo : https://vimeo.com/393108986
  17. Péniche Anako : https://penicheanako.org/agenda/2019-10-26-83-haratch-realise-par-arby-ovanessian

Further reading

  • 1990: Lumière de stars, Le Courrier de l'UNESCO, December 1990.
  • 2021: The Theater and Cinema of Arby Ovanessian by Majid Lashkari. Yerevan, HARATCH Educational and Social Foundation.

External links

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