Back to Ararat

Duration: 100 mi

Year Published: 1988

Creator: First Run/Icarus

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: 1.5 million Armenians were massacred during the First World War by order of the Turkish government. Beginning with commemorative rallies in New York, Erevan (Soviet Armenia) and Paris, this comprehensive documentary offers a history of Armenia, particularly its golden age in the 10th century, and visits with Armenian disapora communities around the world. In New York City, Raffy and Ani, a young couple of Armenian descent, are married in a traditional Armenian ceremony and pledge their commitment to a future Armenian homeland. Cameras visit Anatolia, heart of the old Armenian kingdom under the snow-capped beacon of Mount Ararat, where women sing songs and recite poetry in remembrance of the genocide which decimated their people. In Lyons, France, an elderly survivor, recounts the horrific death march that claimed his mother and brother. Armenian refugees and their descendants are also interviewed in Syria and Lebanon where cohesive cultural identities are maintained. Armenians in Soviet Armenian are seen demonstrating for the return of Karabagh from Azerbaijan. Despite a sizeable body of documentation and recognition of the Armenian genocide by the European Parliament, Turkish officials refuse to acknowledge the mass killings which took place from 1915-1923.