Taniel Trailer
Constantinople, April 24th 1915 as the British planned landings in nearby Gallipoli, hundreds of arrest warrants are issued across the city. The arrival of police at poet Taniel Varoujans door, would shatter his home, destroy his work and his family would never see him again.
One of the greatest innovative poets of the 20th century, a respected teacher, loving father and husband Varoujan foresaw the looming darkness that was approaching and the destruction of the Armenian nation with his prophetic prose at the young age of 31.
Film Noir in style, Taniel pays homage to the era of dramatic filmmaking with extreme lighting and camera angles. The narrative is mostly heard through poetry, with Varoujan poems in Armenian expressing the emotions in each of the scenes; and narrative poetry in English written by Ben Hodgson and delivered with an emotive depth of feeling by Sean Bean.
When we talk about the tragedy of Armenia and Genocide what can be forgotten under the immense shadow of the loss of life, is the individual. Taniel looks at the human spirit, the textural fabric of a person lost in facts, stats and arguments about what word you should call the murder of a race.
Music by Philip Glass played by Valentina Lisitsa sets the scene of World War 1 with heartfelt minimalist tones. Tigran Hamasyan and music from the album Luys i Luso are the driving force across the film with his complex and emotive cascade of notes and vocals, and Michael Nyman with his Out of the Ruins score builds and develops the feeling of tragedy and ultimately resurrection.