Armenian film tells a grandma’s story

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The film ‘Grandma’s Tattoos,’ which tells the experiences of a women during the 1915 events, will be screened within the scope of the 10th International Filmmor Festival.

In its 10th year, the international women’s film festival Filmmor will screen a radical documentary film exploring the 1915 experiences of Khanoum Nene, the grandmother of Swedish-Armenian director Suzanne Khardalian.

“Grandma’s Tattoos” will be on screen at AFM Fitaş Beyoğlu movie theater on March 15 and 16. The French Culture Center had planned to screen the film, but the schedule was changed at the last minute. During its screening in Sweden the film was protested by some Turks living there.

Khardalian said she was delighted her film would reach Turkish audiences. “My film might serve as a platform to invite dialogue, to discuss issues that are very difficult. It is actually an invitation to deal with our deep-rooted taboos, taboos that have crippled us, both Armenians and Turks.”

Khardalian said she was also a bit nervous because the film was a very personal story. “When making this film, I understood after long deliberation and reflection that I had to be in this. Although the film is about my grandma, it is as much about myself. It is about my reality today.”

She said rapes and traumas of women deeply concerned her as a female director, because her grandmother was exposed to violence and her body was tattooed during the events of 1915.
“To be born as a girl was a tragedy for her. I can still hear her cursing me, and I did not like her. When I found out the reality, I felt enormous shame,” she said.

“I have never been to Turkey. But let me tell to you that like all Armenians I know the geography by heart,” Khardalian said.