Dear friends and Family! Finally again a little travelers journal. This time we send you greetings from Armenia. Armenia? The canadian-armenian director Atom Egoyan had kindly invited us since five years, to come to the film-festival in Yerevan and we were sooo curious to see Armenia, this time we went! Wim and I both knew very little about Armenia. We read whatever we could in the Traveling guide-book and found out: Yerevan is the capital City of Armenia and the country is located between Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. What language do they speak? Armenian. What is their Religion? It was the first Country in the world that became entirely Christian and it still is entirely christian. How does the country look like? How do the people look like? How do they dress? What do they eat? How do they live? and what do they live on? ... oh that all needs to be found out. Already the flight schedule made it clear: this is not a place where a lot of people fly to: Arrival time: 3:35 am! Wow. Excruciating for the people waiting for us at the airport to pick us up. So, our first impression was Yerevan by night right before dawn.... After getting up, we went to the official blessing service of the 5th Film-Festival, to an Armenian church. The priest and the congregation gave thanks for the APRICOTs and we all got a blessing, as the movies are the cultural fruits of the season and the GOLDEN APRICOT FILM FESTIVAL was opened. Then we walked to the "Parajanov Museum". Sergej Parajanov (1923-1990). This name might ring a bell for some of you. A filmmaker who did for example "The Color Of Pomegranates" in 1968. He suffered in prison under the Sowjet Union for years, because he had the guts to say what he thought. No one could stop his creativity though, and whatever material got into his hands, he created something from it. At the beautiful Parajanov Museum I was allowed to put on one of his hats. (The elephant is for Friederike!) The medal for the FILM-festival is made of one of the art pieces Parajanov had created in prison with his fingernails from a milk bottle lid. The Festival director Harutyun Khachatryan (in the white jacket), a treasure of a man, re-opened with this first festival the only Cinema in ARMENIA! Can you imagine? The whole country had NO CINEMA for years. He fought for it under hard conditions and is a real hero in our eyes. He asked Wim to give the lifetime achievement price for Michelangelo Antonioni to Enrica Antonioni. A very moving moment right at the opening night of the festival.

Dear friends and Family!

Finally again a little travelers journal. This time we send you greetings from Armenia.

Armenia?

The canadian-armenian director Atom Egoyan had kindly invited us since five years, to come to the film-festival in Yerevan and we were sooo curious to see Armenia, this time we went!

Wim and I both knew very little about Armenia. We read whatever we could in the Traveling guide-book and found out: Yerevan is the capital City of Armenia and the country is located between Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. What language do they speak? Armenian. What is their Religion? It was the first Country in the world that became entirely Christian and it still is entirely christian. How does the country look like? How do the people look like? How do they dress? What do they eat? How do they live? and what do they live on? ... oh that all needs to be found out.

Already the flight schedule made it clear: this is not a place where a lot of people fly to: Arrival time: 3:35 am! Wow. Excruciating for the people waiting for us at the airport to pick us up.

So, our first impression was Yerevan by night right before dawn....

After getting up, we went to the official blessing service of the 5th Film-Festival, to an Armenian church.

The priest and the congregation gave thanks for the APRICOTs and we all got a blessing, as the movies are the cultural fruits of the season and the GOLDEN APRICOT FILM FESTIVAL was opened.

Then we walked to the "Parajanov Museum".

Sergej Parajanov (1923-1990). This name might ring a bell for some of you.

A filmmaker who did for example "The Color Of Pomegranates" in 1968. He suffered in prison under the Sowjet Union for years, because he had the guts to say what he thought. No one could stop his creativity though, and whatever material got into his hands, he created something from it. At the beautiful Parajanov Museum I was allowed to put on one of his hats.

(The elephant is for Friederike!)

The medal for the FILM-festival is made of one of the art pieces Parajanov had created in prison with his fingernails from a milk bottle lid.

The Festival director Harutyun Khachatryan (in the white jacket), a treasure of a man, re-opened with this first festival the only Cinema in ARMENIA! Can you imagine? The whole country had NO CINEMA for years. He fought for it under hard conditions and is a real hero in our eyes. He asked Wim to give the lifetime achievement price for Michelangelo Antonioni to Enrica Antonioni. A very moving moment right at the opening night of the festival.