GAREN BLOG: padani

The last two weeks have been insane and in some sense overwhelming. I've decided that my favorite part of Yerevan is the Cafesjian Art Center. The massive cascading steps are reminiscent of the Spanish Steps in Rome, but with an Armenian character. It's also incredible that we somehow always manage to end up here on any given night.

The closing ceremonies of the Golden Apricot Film Festival were a testament to the growth of Yerevan over the past couple of years. Its events like this that make me quickly fall in love with the city.

Aside from Yerevan, I've busy working on my project, and will soon post some of the images of the concerts, and the places outside of Yerevan that I've visited.

In the mean time, check out some of the the images of the last week or so.

Atom Egoyan (3rd from the right) front and center for the closing ceremonies of the golden apricot international film festival //

the second portion of construction of the Cafesjian Art Center in Yerevan //

street vendor //

the flowing fountains of the cafesjian art center //

Archbishop Grigoris Buniatian in echmiadzin //

yerevan, armenia //

closing ceremony for the the 7th annual golden apricot film festival //

child laughing //

this would have been me when I was 5 years old in yerevan //

sunset against near the opera house //

made in the USSR, written on the tire of an armored vehicle on display near mayr hayrenik //

the moon above yerevan //

famous armenian singer forsh (vahan gevorkian) in yerevan late night //

photographers capturing the golden apricot film festival //

man passing street vendors by an underpass //

fountains of the cafesjian art center //

in echmiadzin //

old woman //

young woman //

the dependability of russian cars //

worker rolls over freshly laid path //

a scene from armenia today, that looks like armenia 20 years ago //

tired and hungover from a wedding //

police marching band plays to commemorate the closing ceremonies of the golden apricot film festival //

art critic Shahen Khachatryan in echmiadzin //

minister discussing the newly laid roads //

fountains of the cafesjian art center //

crane during construction of the cafesjian art center //

late night wine and cheese //

armenian film director and the general director of the Golden Apricot Film Festival, Harutyun Khachatryan //

a big audience for the closing ceremonies of the film festival //

late night at the cafesjian art center //

workers taking a break //

cats through a window //

two old women sitting on a bench in yerevan //

It's impossible to ignore the art and cultural events currently taking place in Armenia. It shouldn't be a surprise either, Armenians have long been known to play a strong role in art, architecture, film, dance, and music. There seems to be this inherent quality in the people to express their feelings of creativity regardless of the political, economic, and environmental pressures they face.

In the same week, I was able to attend Spartcus (the ballet organized by the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow), the Golden Apricot International Film Festival (presented by Atom Egoyan), and in two days will be able to hear the classical music of Bach and Komitas (performed by Sergey Khachatryan and the Nairi string quartet).

The Spartcus ballet was on par with other internationally recognized ballet companies. The sets were incredible, and the movements of the performers were beautiful. In the same respect it was the charming screening rooms of the Golden Apricot Film Festival which brought to life Atom Egoyan's film Exotica (one of my all time favorite films). It might have been close to 90 degrees F in the screening room, but none-the-less the crowd remained to watch the last of the credits roll. The same can be said of the Georgian film Street Days by director Levan Koghuashvili. The soviet era Moscow Cinema's blue hall provided the perfect atmosphere to watch a post-soviet Georgia tackle the loaded issues of drug abuse.

Scroll down to see some of the images of the city.

woman on cell phone //

kurdish herder //

entrance to the armenian metro //

truck near kurdish settlement //

water truck //

transport truck //

sasuntsi davit metro station //

herder and his cow //

deep in thought //

power lines near aragats mountain //

golden apricot international film festival posters hang outside of the national gallery screening room //

the clock tower of republic square //

men starring //

a truck going through an underpass in yerevan //

near the peak of mount aragats with an elevation near 3500 meters //

a young girl walking to the metro //

arches of sourp krikor lusavorich cathedral in yerevan, built to commemorate the 1700 year anniversary of christianity in armenia //

kids fill their buckets with water in preparation for the national watering day, where everyone has an equal chance of getting soaked //

the winding road to the peak of mount aragats //

coffee beans for sale in an underground bazaar //

soviet issue motorcycle with sidecar, looked like it was made by ural //

a sales woman takes a break, in an underground bazaar //

khor virap catherdal set against the backdrop of mount ararat located in historical armenia, land which was stolen from armenians during the genocide of 1915 //