Suzanne Khardalian on Armenian Genocide and women’s rights – interview with NEWS.am STYLE

By Lilit Petrosyan

Last year Lebanese-Armenian journalist and filmmaker Suzanne Khardalian, who now lives in Sweden, presented a film telling about Armenian Genocide survivors titled “Grandma’s Ttattoos”. The film made a fuss all over the world. Suzanne Khardalian, has directed over 20 documentaries, the major part of which is dedicated to the Armenian Genocide.  In an interview with NEWS.am STYLE, Suzanne told about women’s rights, Armenian Genocide and collective memory.

You have directed several films telling about the Armenian Genocide. When and how did you decide to raise this issue through documentaries?

I have been focused on this theme since 1985. Although, I have not shoot films telling about the Armenian Genocide, I always touched upon this problem.  It was always in my thoughts. My first film was called “Back to Ararat”. It was my first documentary which raised the issue of the Armenian Genocide and the situation in the Armenian Diaspora.  I think whenever an Armenian person is, wherever he works, the Armenian Genocide is a part of his history. For example, the 1918 May victory, the liberation of Shushi in 1992, the Battle of Avarayr are a part of our collective memory which was acknowledged, while Armenian Genocide is a recollection that will be never forgotten. Memory has a specific structure: it usually finds its place, gives a certain life experiences, which can be used in the future. But the memory of the Genocide is impossible to master. This story resembles an open wound that needs to be healed, but signs of improvement are not seen.

Do you intend to continue the series of films raising the topic of Genocide?

Each of us, whether it is a man or a woman, an artist, or a representative of other professions  has this recollection, the shoulders of each of us still carry the weight of the collective memory. For me, as an artist, it is important to somehow turn this burden into a capital from the point of view of art, to make this topic a source of inspiration. I think that there is nothing wrong with this inspiration. Of course, at first glance, how can death and mass murder inspire? But I think that today the Armenians should be able to capitalize imperfection of their memory. Of course, it is our problem, but I wish to make it universal so that others could to some extent understand the pain.

I can not say that every year I will make a film about the genocide, but the most important thing for me, is a new approach to this subject. For example, “Grandma’s Tattoos” is studying the gender aspect of Genocide. I know that in Armenia the word “gender" is not a pleasant expression and not accepted by society, but I believe that this expression is misunderstood. For me it was very interesting when after the Rwandan genocide, for the first time the issue of sexual harassment as a military strategy was raised in international courts. Whereas sexual violence against women is directly related to children, as victims of mass rape often become pregnant. And where are the stories about our women? Why are not we talking about this? At the same time, the stories that we know about women who are victims of genocide are “embellished” to some extent. For example, there are stories of women who preferred to jump off cliffs and die than be raped. As a result, a deeper study revealed that, yes, there were many such cases, but many of the women wished to continue to live. Of course, this was possible only in return for a very high price, and we do not want to talk about it and do not want to open that page in history. We are ashamed, but this page is very important because today many Armenians, who were hiding their nationality or our compatriots who were born in mixed families, suddenly open for themselves the history of their ancestors.

Last year you presented “Grandma’s Tattoos”, a film that made a sensation. Can you say that after screening the film in several countries, people are now more informed about the terrible reality of the Armenian Genocide?

I can not imagine any specific statistics, but I can tell you one thing: there is no other film about the genocide that was watched by so many people. The film was eight times aired on Al-Jazeera, and the audience reached 300 million people. I am getting very impressive letters.  I think that the film should not be treated as a means of propaganda. You cannot touch people’s feelings with artificial means. That’s why the most important thing for me is that after watching the film people linked it to their problems. For example, the Japanese also have such a page in history when they used sexual violence against Chinese women. Argentineans actively responded to the film because they had difficult times during the military junta when soldiers were separating children from their parents.

The heroes of your films are genocide survivors. Do you continue to communicate with them after shooting the film?

There is always a pain in my heart, and, probably, it the first time that I can tell. Each time after shooting the Genocide survivors, I have an impression that these people are waiting to see me, to make me collect their memories and then say:  “Now I can die in peace!” It happened to all genocide survivors, characters in the film “Back to Ararat”. The same thing also happened to the hero of the film “I Hate Dogs” Garbis who was 101 years old, as well as one of the characters of “Grandma’s Tattoos” Maria Vardanyan.

My communication with the characters never lasted for an hour or half an hour. I regularly communicate with them. It is a story of long relationship. They are my relatives. For example, I lived for about a week in Gabris’ house, and he told me the things that he had never told before.

Are you following the approach of the Turkish society to this painful chapter of history? Have you noticed any positive changes in terms of Armenian Genocide recognition?

The Turkish authorities will definitely stick to their policy on the matter, and talking about it is senseless. As for society, there are people among us who are enthusiastic about the likely recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey. There are people who believe that society can more boldly express its position on the matter. In different parts of the world there are brilliant Turkish intellectuals, scholars, who are my friends. I am in good relations with all of them. In a sense, they are aware of the problem. But there is an important point: they will never give me what I am expecting to get, because for them the problem is just a matter of demographics, not justice. And enthusiasm about likelihood of Armenian Genocide recognition by Turkey is very far from reality.

Please tell us about your plans.

I have been working on a new film about the Middle East for a year. The working title of the movie is “Camel”. I was shooting in Egypt and Lebanon. The film will tell about some of the events in the context of the Arab Spring. Of course, I can not completely reflect the entire Arab Spring. I am studying the rights of women in these countries.