Chatting at an hors d’oeuvres reception, a group of people waited for the first illustrated lecture of the “The Armenian Genocide in Film: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives” series presented by the 11th Henry K. Khanzadian Kazan visiting professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State, Dr. Myrna Douzjian.
Douzjian, earned her doctorate in comparative literature at UCLA. She will give a total of three illustrated lectures during the spring semester at Fresno State.
The first discussion Wednesday night was “The Genocide as Allegory in Serge Avedikian’s Chienne d’Histoire.” “Chienne d’Histoire” is a short animation film that makes no mention of the Armenian Genocide. Instead, the film depicts the eradication of stray dogs in the city of Constantinople in 1910.
The film won a Short Film Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.
Avedikian did not deliberately intend to represent the Armenian Genocide in his film. It was pointed out to him after the movie was made, Douzjian said.
“People who know about the genocide, and studied it, can clearly see the resemblance, and it just makes you more emotional about it,” said Marine Vardanyan, president of the Armenian Students Organization.
The film represents an earlier historical event. The streets were overrun with stray dogs in Constantinople in 1910. The newly established government decided to deport the dogs to a deserted island away from the city to starve to death.
“The movie really brought out shivers on me. I know they are not humans. They are dogs, but you can really see the parallel. The scene where they deported the stray dogs into the deserted island — with the Armenian Genocide they deported the people in the desert,” Vardanyan said.
Fresno State student Josie Osorno connected the film with the Armenian Genocide only because of the title of the lecture.
“Honestly, I do not know a lot about the genocide. If I had watched the movie before, I could have also connected it with the Jewish Holocaust,” Osorno said. “I think the film is symbolic and open to interpretation depending on your background. There is still a message getting across.”
Douzjian said these types of events are significant to the community, because it exposes them to underrepresented or lesser known filmic representations of the genocide.
“As an Armenian, this type of event speaks to my heart, and it is something I want to get involved in. For students, in general, it is good to keep an open mind, definitely learning about other cultures and other backgrounds and a historical event like this one,” Vardanyan said.
She encouraged students to attend the lectures. She said it is a good cultural educational experience, especially because the 100th anniversary of the genocide is approaching.
“The turnout was fantastic. It will be nicer to see more students, you know: students who are generally interested in film. I think they could get a lot out of this. You do not need to be interested in the Armenian Genocide. This is more about how we read and interpret film than it is about historical accounting of the genocide,” Douzjian said.