My Life in China

The World Premier of LOST BIRDS, a heartwarming film from Turkey, will open the 18th Arpa International Film Festival taking place November 13 to 15, 2015 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.  This year’s Arpa International Film Festival focuses strongly on humanitarian issues internationally such as genocide, holocaust, human freedom, women’s rights, homelessness and many others. LOST BIRDS, the Opening night’s World Premier Film is from Turkey in Armenian and Turkish language filmed in Capadoccia, Turkey, by Aren Perdeci and Ela Alyamac.  For these two young co-directors, it took a five year journey to realize their passion project.  They shared directing, producing and writing duties.  Perdeci was also the director of photography of this amazingly beautiful film.  This movie presents a historical tragedy that takes place in 1915, from the point of view of two children.  The story is about Bedo, played by (Heros Agopyan) and Maryam, played by (Dila Uluca), whose beautiful, warm, and happy lives in Anatolia comes to an end when their grandfather played by ( Sarkis Acemoglu) is taken away by soldiers.  Out of extreme fear, their mother, played by (Takuhi Bahar), forbid the children to go outside, but being children, they sneak out to their favorite spot to play, only to come back to an empty home and an empty village. Their fear takes over, and with their bird that they had saved, they embark on a journey toward Aleppo to find their mother, and their fellow villagers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URtvPLTQO4c This beautiful film made by an Armenian and a Turkish filmmaker with passion is a cinematographic beauty to watch.  September issue of “American Cinematographer” magazine has written a nine page article on Lost Birds under the title of “Lost and Found” with photo scenes from the film worth reading. Arpa’s 18th International Film festival presents the screenings of seven narrative feature films, 11 documentaries, and 27 short films — a cross-cultural program of films delving into myriad of social and cultural experiences. FEATURE FILM COMPETITION Lost Birds (2015) | Turkey | Director: Ela Alyamac, Aren Perdeci | Writers: Ela Alyamac, Aren Perdeci | Language: Turkish, Armenian Three Windows and a Hanging (2014) | Kosovo | Director: Isa Qosja | Writer: Zymber Kelmendi | Language: Albanian Off (2015) | Serbia | Director: Predrag Stojic | Writer: Marko Krstic | Language: Serbian Our Village (2013) | Armenia | Director: Yelena Arshakyan | Writer: Hovhannes Yeranyan | Language: Armenian I Want to Be A King (2014) | Iran | Director: Mehdi Ganji | Writer: Mehdi Ganji | Language: Persian DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION Aliyah Dada (2015) | Romania | Director: Oana Giurgiu | Language: English Armenia Sings on in Our Hearts (2015) | Brazil | Director: Isabella Bablumian | Writer: Isabella Bablumian | Language: English Armenopolis, Armenian Soul (2015) | Romania | Director: Florin Kevorkian and Isabella Bostan | Writer: Florin Kevorkian | Language: Rumanian Daylight After a Century (2015) | United Kingdom | Director: Hollie Harrington | Language: English Goodbye Theresienstadt (2015) | Denmark, Czech Republic | Director: Carl Otta Dethlefsen | Language: Danish Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision of Paradise (2015) | Germany | Director: Volker Schaner | Writer: Volker Schaner | Language: English My Life in China (2014) | U.S.A. | Director: Kenneth Eng | Writer: Ehren Parks | Language: Chinese N64Q: Born Free (2015) | U.S.A., Japan | Director: Sasha Gransjean | Writer: Sasha Gransjean | Language: English Paul the Birdman (2015) | U.S.A. | Director: Taniel Kilajian | Writer: Taniel Kilajian | Language: English Superjednostka (2014) | Poland | Director: Teresa Czepiec | Writer: Teresa Czepiec | Language: Polish Tell Spring Not to Come This Year (2015) | United Kingdom | Director: Michael McEvoy, Saeed Taji Farouky | Language: Dari SHORT FILM COMPETITION Ablution | USA, Iran, Canada | Director: Parisa Barani | Writer: Amin El Gamal | Language: English Bed Bugs and Company (2015) | U.S.A. | Director: Serena Dykman | Writer: Serena Dykman | Language: English Bad Advice | U.S.A. | Director: Kegham Berajekelian | Writer: Aaron Fitzgerald, Scott Javore, Adam Lesar | Language: English Caregivers (2014) | Armenia | Director: Viktorya Aleksanyan | Writer: Beniamin Gevorgyan | Language: Armenian Family Dance | Director: Naré Mkrtchyan | Writer: Chris Commons | Language: Armenian Gear | U.S.A. | Director: Kevin Adams and Joe Ksander | Writer: Kevin Adams and Joe Ksander | Language: English Get Up (2012) | Australia | Director: Dan Balcaban | Writer: Dan Balcaban | Language: English Greenland (2014) | Israel | Director: Oren Gerner | Writer: Oren Gerner | Language: Hebrew Hazel & Louis: Animal Agents (2014) | U.S.A. | Director: Sy Ozcan, Marissa Madsen | Writer: Sy Ozcan, Marissa Madsen | Language: English Hursit (2015) | Turkey | Director: Selcen Yilmazoglu | Writer: Selcen Yilmazoglu | Language: Turkish In The Clouds (En Las Nubes) (2014) | Argentina | Director: Marcelo Mitnik | Writer: Marcelo Mitnik | Language: Spanish The Jungle (2015) | Turkey | Director: Onur Saylak, Dogu Akal | Writer: Onur Saylak, Dogu Akal | Language: Arabic L’Homme de I’lle Sandwich (2015) | France | Director: Levon Minasian | Writer: Levon Minasian, Ester Mann | Language: French The Loss (2015) | Israel | Director: Dekel Nitzan | Writer: Dekel Nitzan | Language: Hebrew The Loyalist (2015) | South Korea, USA | Director: Minji Kang | Writer: Willem Lee | Language: Korean Night of the Slasher (2015) | U.S.A | Director: Shant Hamassian | Writer: Shant Hamassian | Language: English Sabre Dance (2015) / U.S.A | Director: Ilya Rozhkov | Writer: Ilya Rozhkov | Language: English Seagulls (2014) / United Kingdom | Director: Martin Smith | Writer: Martin Smith | Language: English Shattered (2015) | Canada | Director: David Hovan | Writer: David Hovan | Language: English The Story of Snow (2015) | South Korea | Director: Younsik Kim | Writer: Younsik Kim | Language: Korean Straw Dolls (2015) | U.S.A. | Director: Jon Milano | Writer: Jon Milano | Language: Armenian Tamara, Echelon (2014) | Romania | Director: Kristina Cepraga Goodwin | Writer: Kristina Cepraga Goodwin | Language: Romanian Test (2015) | U.S.A. | Director: Jay Lifton | Writer: Jay Lifton, Catherine Ho | Language: English Up The Valley and Beyond (2013) / U.S.A. | Director: Todd Rosken | Writer: Todd Rosken, Bobby D. Lux | Language: English Welcome (2014) | Ecuador | Director: Javier Fesser | Writer: Javier Fesser | Language: Spanish Welcome (2015) | U.S.A. | Director: Serena Dykman | Writer: Serena Dykman | Language: English While They Were Flying to the Moon (2015) | Serbia | Director: Borisa Simovic | Writer: Borisa Simovic | Language: Serbian

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