Filmmaker Braden King will be presenting video and still photographs from his recent trip to Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh as part of a panel discussion: (RE) CONNECTING with KARABAGH, Monday, April 11 at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. King's trip was undertaken in preparation for his upcoming narrative feature film, HERE, currently scheduled to be shot in the region in the spring of 2006. Details and press release follow.
(RE) CONNECTING with KARABAGH panel discussion
Monday, April 11 - 6:30-8:30 p.m.
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York
Conference Room #9205-07.
The discussion is open and free to the public.
(RE) CONNECTING with KARABAGH
A Cross Cultural and Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion at CUNY
New York, New York -- In conjunction with the New York book signing of Markar Melkonian’s “My Brother’s Road”, a cross cultural and interdisciplinary panel discussion, (RE) CONNECTING with KARABAGH, will take place on April 11, 2005 at City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. The event is organized by NK Arts in collaboration with Center for Place, Culture and Politics and Middle Eastern American Center at CUNY.
Panel Topic:
Headlines of the early 1990s reduced a national struggle for self-determination into an 'ethnic conflict.' In more recent years, however, the headlines have disappeared and one rarely hears/reads about Nagorno Karabagh. A fragile cease-fire has held for the past ten years, bringing to an end--at least temporarily--a war that has claimed twenty-five thousand lives and displaced close to a million inhabitants. Today, Nagorno Karabagh remains in a state of limbo and 'illegitimacy.' While oil interests motivate Western powers to negotiate a settlement between Armenians and Azeris, a handful of cultural producers have been brokering different kinds of 'conflict resolution.' This panel focuses on the narratives woven by a non native activist, an architect, a filmmaker, a geographer and a literary critic.Their work mediates a more nuanced understanding of the complex story of Karabagh.
"Philosopher and historian Markar Melkonian's recent book, "My Brother's Road," offers a compelling counter narrative of denied histories related to Nagorno Karabagh and serves as a conduit to (RE) CONNECT us with the poetics of this distanced place, scarred by violence, and its people who call it home," said panel organizer Neery Melkonian (not related to the author).
Panelists:
The panel will be introduced and moderated by Professor Neil Smith, Director of Center for Place, Culture and Politics. Dr. Markar Melkonian will read excerpts and discuss the experience of writing “My Brother's Road.” Professor of English and Women’s Studies, David Kazanjian, will offer a review of the book Architect, Silva Ajemian, will present the NK Arts festival site proposal and address the challenges of (re)creating a public space in Shushi and Filmmaker, Braden King, will show photographs from his location-research trip to Karabagh and talk about his feature film project. The discussant for the panel is Dr. John Antranig Kasbarian, Activist/Director of Tufenkian Foundation (Karabagh).
The evening will conclude with book signing by the author, proceeds from book sales benefits the Monte Melkonian Fund.
"Markar Melkonian recounts in unflinching and fascinating detail the nearly unbelievable saga of his brother Monte's life and death, from an all-American childhood in California's Central Valley to his youth as an armed revolutionary in Beirut and his death as an Armenian hero in Artsakh. With a brother's memory and a philosopher's keen judgment, Melkonian reanimates a truly remarkable life." - Nancy Kricorian, author of 'Zabelle and Dreams of Bread and Fire'.
The event takes place on Monday, April 11, 6:30-8:30 PM, at CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Conference Room #9205-07. It is open and free to the public. For additional information please contact NK_Arts@yahoo.com or call 212 243-2110.
CUNY Center for Place, Culture and Politics:
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/pcp/events_April11_05.html
Braden King:
Truckstop Media: http://www.truckstopmedia.com
Bio: http://truckstopmedia.com/profile/profile-personnel/personnel-braden.html
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