NEW YORK, NY - "Films of Armenia and the Diaspora" was the subject of an informative lecture by noted French stage and film director, and historian Arby Ovanessian at Columbia University on Thursday evening, October 26. His talk, which was sponsored by The Armenian Center at Columbia University, was augmented with the showing of extracts of documentary, animated and fiction films.

Introduced by Professor Anahid Kassabian, a member of the Fordham University Department of Communications and Media Studies, the guest speaker, who is currently teaching in Columbia's Theatre Department of the School of Arts, focused his talk on the history of Armenian filmmaking. He pointed out that, in Armenia, most of the early films have either been destroyed, badly preserved, or have no titles. Except for the current films being produced in Armenia, many are in great need of restoration. In the Diaspora, Armenian film productions have not been in the mainstream, he asserted, presenting cinematic segments from different films. Armenian films have not been known internationally, but some film directors of Armenian background became very famous, he said, and gave the name of the legendary Rouben Mamoulian.

Tracing the development of Armenian films, the lecturer said that films in the sense of projection started in France on December 28, 1895, with only 33 people in attendance. Ten months later, in Tiflis, Georgia, at a film projection, Armenians constituted 80 percent of the audience. The first documentary shot in Armenia took place in 1907, he noted. At that time, an important playwright Gabriel Sundukian, after whom Yerevan's state theatre is named, tried to write scripts for film.

In the next decade of czarist rule, many Armenian works appeared in films. In 1914, the first attempt was made in southern Russia, and in 1919, "Ravished Armenia," a film on the 1915 Genocide, was made, he said. In 1924, a director received a hundred rubles to shoot "Soviet Armenia." The economic and political situation in Soviet Armenia made it difficult to produce any works, he asserted with emphasis.

It was in the 1930's that Armenia sent three students to the Moscow Film School -- at that time, the most important such school in the world. Armen Kino, the Armenian cinema, achieved a very high status in the Caucasus, the film historian revealed. But in 1938, Armen Kino was renamed Yerevan Studio, which was greatly controlled by Moscow, he said. In Armenia, even with its small financial budget, films of value were being made, notably musical animation works such as "Black and White," and the "Dog and Cat" by Toumanian, employing Armenian words, letters and music.

During the 1920's and 1930's, there were four cinemas in Yerevan, and mobile cinemas existed throughout Armenia. Following the Soviet tradition, Armenia, in 1942, made films portraying World War II. During the Stalin era, film production stopped. In the late 1950's, a new movement began with the adaptation of Shirvanzade's play, "For the Sake of Honor." It was during the 1960's that the new movement of filmmaking began with "Hello, It's Me" from the Armen Film Studios. It was not until the 1960's that some Armenian films were distributed without having to go through Moscow.

Meanwhile, in 1929, in New York, Rouben Mamoulian made his very first film, the much-acclaimed "Applause." Within the next three years, Mamoulian made two other films, including "City Streets," which was used as a teaching subject in Moscow's Film School. His third film, the much- celebrated "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde," opened the Venice Biennale Film Festival. Also in 1929, Michael Arlen (nee Dikran Kouyoumjian) adapted his "Green Hat" for Greta Garbo. And Edmund Cariou, brother of the writer Hamasdegh, appeared in silent films and takes. In 1942, MGM invited William Saroyan to write the script for "Good Job," It was the first big production film using a few Armenian words, the lecturer revealed.

Mamoulian, who was the initiator of Hollywood musicals, was one of three of the most important film directors from Tiflis, joining Bek Nazarov and Sergei Paradjanov. Mamoulian was given the project of directing "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh," but the project failed when the Turkish government protested and the U.S. State Department prevented its production.

Throughout his presentation, Ovanessian showed excerpts of many films, including the masterpiece, "Vintage," by the acclaimed late director Bagrad Hovhanissian, which this correspondent saw at the Paris Armenian Film Festival. The great Russian director Tarkovsky was a consultant for this poignant, memorable work. Filmed in black and white, it portrays a young village boy, who goes to the train station every day, hoping his father will return from the war. In one of the most poignant scenes, the boy, discouraged, walks down the train tracks in a pelting rain, until he disappears into the mist. The only sound being heard is the incessant rain.

Because of limited time, Ovanessian did not delve into the modem period, with such masters as Paradjanov whose films have a cult following and are shown time and again in different film festivals and retrospectives. Another film director recognized internationally today is Canada's Atom Egoyan, whose works have also been in several film festivals. He has announced that his next film will be about the 1915 Genocide.

Ovanessian, who is a specialist and historian of both Armenian and non-Armenian cinema, is presently teaching a course on theatre at Columbia University. He has previously taught theatre and filmmaking in France, and in Iran's television film school. He is best known for his feature film, "How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life," based on an Arshile Gorky work. He has also produced the feature film "The Spring" in Persian, and has made five short films, including one which is animated.

A resident of Paris for 22 years, Arby Ovanessian was born in Iran. In the 1960's, he emigrated to England where he studied filmmaking. He has worked with outstanding figures in film and theatre, including the renowned Peter Cook, and has produced 14 stage plays in Persian, French, Armenian and English. His works have been seen in France, Iran, England, Poland and Brazil. - F.A.