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World Fantastic Cinema

On the Old Roman Road

on Askarian

Armenia2001 76min 35mm B&W

Synopsis

An old barber shop comes to screen after the end of credit. From it appears a man with soap bubbles on his face and a barber who's giving him a shave. A low-voiced narration begins. "Turkish people are killing Armenians. So what are you doing?" Upon hearing this comment, he slashes the customer's neck with his razor. The Ottoman Empire during the First World War has killed over 1.5 million Armenians. That's why Armenians have a grudge on the Furks to this day. An old Armenian writer in Rotterdam reminisces about the days of Armenia under Ottoman rules-he remembers a man stealing from a dead Turkish, an old man's blood soaked beard, a beautiful 17-year-old girl, a man with 8 wives. His memories-show the past of Armenians. Meanwhile the movie is slightly covered with an extremely modern crime story of the present-day Rotterdam. (HONG Sung-nam)

Diretor

on Askarian

Born in Armenia, in 1949, he studied history and art in Moscow from 1967 to 1973. He worked as an assistant director and a film critic, until he was arrested and jailed in 1975. In 1978 he emigrated from Berlin, where he has lived and worked ever since, Komitas, an artistic portrait of the Armenian monk and composer Komitas (1869~1935), has been screened by many film festivals and TV channels.