From September 21-24, 2021, the annual (since 2006) International Festival of Marine and Adventure Films ‘The Sea is Calling!’ was held in St. Petersburg www.seafest.info
67 films were shown at the festival, including from France, New Zealand, Sweden, Australia, Finland, USA, Germany, Japan.
Among the creators of various films are our compatriots, including Harutyun Ghazaryan – cameraman of the film ‘The Life and Travels of Miklouho-Maclay’, Narina Hakobyan is a sound engineer for a film about a Pomeranian coastal village.
But the main film from Armenia is ‘Kilicia. Creation’ (38 min, 2021) about the legendary recreated ship of the 13th century of medieval Armenia. And it is very pleasant that the film won the prize of the festival!
‘KILIKIA. Creation’
The film tells about the epic creation by a group of enthusiasts of a replica of the 13th century Mediterranean trading ship of the Kilician Armenian state and an expedition on a built ship around Europe along the routes of medieval sailors and merchants.
‘Kilicia’ had been being filmed for more than 25 years: 6 years of work in the archives, repositories of ancient manuscripts and libraries in Yerevan, Moscow, London, Venice, 11 years of building a ship, 2 years of testing and acquiring the skills of walking and driving a medieval ship on Lake Sevan, 3 years of expedition around Europe (65 ports in 25 countries of Europe and Asia), and several years of processing and understanding the results of a historical experiment (expedition).
Marine Research Club “Ayas”. Author, producer: Karen Balayan, director, editor: Areg Nazaryan, director: Hovhannes Hakobyan, cameraman: Samvel Babasyan.
Besides showing the film, an exhibition of large photographs of Kilicia on board the icebreaker Krasin was organized.
At the suggestion of the ‘Our Duty’ Charitable Foundation, Karen Balayan gave an interview to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Aram Danielyan (link to the interview below).
The film ‘KILIKIA. Creation’.
Armenian version::
https://youtu.be/W0vBlw2P-QE
Russian Version
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T2NTSoFowffk1LPEIzglObuxBqUDdJ_8/
Video Interview by Karen Balayan
https://disk.yandex.ru/i/8NNJUAb5FHtMtw