Tracing the archival sources of the French feature film “Andranik” about the Armenians in the First World War (1928)

The first and still the only film about Andranik Ozanian (1865–1927)  was  shot  during  the  summer  of  1928  in  Bulgaria.  Who  financed  and created the movie, why did the director Archavir Chakhatouny (1882–1957) choose Bulgaria for the scenes in the open, why wasn’t the film shown in Soviet Armenia and how did it get to Yerevan – those are part of the questions the paper will try to answer. To that end the author searched for the archival documents in  the  archives  and  museums  of  Armenia  and  Bulgaria.  The  richest  source  is the  personal  fund  of  the  Armenian  emigrant  in  Paris  Arshavir  Shakhatuni (1882–1957). After his death, the documents were transferred to the Yeghishe Charents Museum of Literature and Arts in Yerevan. Among them, a special place is occupied by biographical documents, documents about theatrical roles and roles in cinema, which he performed, materials about early cinema and the history of the creation of the film “Andranik”. The National Archives of Armenia keeps the documents which detail the participation of Chakhatouny in the First World War and in the government of  the  First  Armenian  Republic  (1918–1920)  as  the  commandant  and  chief of  police  of  Yerevan.  The  most  valuable  source  is  the  film  “Andranik”  which was received by the State Archives of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) in 1972. During the period, the name of Andranik was banned until the end of the 80s of the 20th century. There was censorship and contradicting assessments of Andranik by Armenians and Azerbaijanis (“hero” or “enemy”) were “concealed”. For this reason, the film might have got into Armenia through the Armenian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, founded by the resolution of the Communist Party of the ASSR. The official activity of the Society was related to the cultural events abroad but in fact it was used to gather information about the political emigrants. In the Bulgarian archives one may find the archive “traces” of Chakhatouny’s performances  on  the  Bulgarian  theatrical  scenes  and  also  his  correspondence with  the  actor  Georgi  Stamatov  (1893–1965),  that  documents  contain  the valuable data on the history of the film creation. Thanks to the archives, the film ‘Andranik’ can be seen and the story of its creation and distribution in the past century can be reproduced.

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