Exclusive: Kev Orkian and Andy Simon on «Armenia Uncovered» and their Armenian adventures

13:35   29 August, 2017

Next year, on March 2018, a new movie about Armenia, «Armenia Uncovered» will be aired showing the world the beauty and the uncovered history of our country. The film is produced and directed by the award winning Australian-Armenian journalist and television producer Andy Simon (Andy Simonian) and the beauty of Armenia is being presented by the famous British-Armenian comedian and actor Kev Orkian.

NEWS.am STYLE met the two talented Armenians during the last day of their shootings in Yerevan and we have covered some interesting stories about «Armenia Uncovered».

««Armenia Uncovered» is exactly what the title says, uncovering Armenia. The project actually started from Andy, who is the director and the producer of the show. He came up to me and said to look at that idea and that I'll be perfect for the job. I had an idea about the documentary about Armenia and he also had the idea, we got together and we spent about a year and a half putting the project together. And now we're in Armenia and we're doing «Armenia Uncovered», which is basically on travelling around the country, uncovering the beauty of it»,-says Kev Orkian adding that the film will have comedy, emotional and also factual stories.

«There has been a lot of factual evidence that we've uncovered. Everything- from the oldest shoe in the world. And only yesterday we went to Etchmiadzin museum and we went down the stairs into another part of the church which no one's really allowed to go down and we touched the stone that was blessed by Gregory the Illuminator. So, we've been everywhere…».

The team of «Armenia Uncovered» has started their journey from Yerevan, they have also participated in Big barbecue festival in Akhtala, they have been in Lori, Jermuk, Areni and Stepanakert.

«There are always a lot of discoveries in Armenia that in other countries we haven't heard about. We're so excited that we're uncovering all these to the world»,-says Andy, while Kev adds.

«It seems like everything is in Armenia, even the most beautiful women. The food, the hospitability. It's been amazing. Stepanakert for me was very special, because it's the part of ancient Armenia, it holds a lot of history. And I was touched by the beauty of the place. Knowing what happened there in 1992 and 1994, when the entire city was ruined … and what's coming out of these ashes today was quite amazing. If the people in Yerevan have not been there yet, they need to go and see it».

Andy was also impressed by the country while covering the historical stories of it.

«I liked everything. I shall be honest and say that I loved Stepanakert, but I also liked Jermuk and so many other places here in Armenia. Everywhere you go, the people are just so hospitable, you can't not love the place».

Of course, Kev and Andy had a lot of adventures in Armenia, like test driving an Armenian car, making the traditional food of Artsakh-Jengyalov hac, dancing with the State dance ensemble of Armenia and even participating in the traditional cleaning of Armenian rag.

«Kev had to dress in a traditional way, because it's only the job for women. He put the scarf around his head, so that he could participate in rag cleaning»,-remembers Andy.

We were interested, will the film show only the beautiful side of Armenia, or have they also met some negative sides of it?

«In every country there is always positive and negative things. I'll be absolutely honest, the only negative thing about this country is some of the roads. Apart from that I can't say any negative thing about this country. It's so positive- the people, the city, the streets, the hospitability, the food, the views…But sometimes when you're driving and you're dying to go to the toilet, and you're in the back seat of the car…and you need to go quicker, than you feel that you needed to… because the roads are so bumpy»,-says Kev with his typical sense of humor.

«I've been to Armenia 2 years ago, for the Genocide anniversary and I don't think I have seen any changes. It's just as beautiful as it was  two years ago»,-adds Andy.

The team of «Armenia Uncovered» consists not only from Armenians, but also from volunteers from Australia. The uncovered Armenia will be premiered next year, it will be on the big screens from March. The film will appear in Armenian, Russian, French and Spanish subtitles.

Syune Arakelyan

Photos by Shushan Shatikyan and  from Andy's Facebook page



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