"Taniel" Trailer from Garo Berberian on Vimeo.
TANIEL
Constantinople, April 24 1915. As the British prepared their landings in nearby Gallipoli, hundreds of arrest warrants are issued across the city. The arrival of police at poet Taniel Varoujan’s door would shatter his home, destroy his work, and his family would never see him again.
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’s poems in Armenian expressing the emotions in each of the scenes; and narrative poetry in English delivered with an emotive depth of feeling by Sean Bean.
Taniel has recently finished taking part in the film festival circuit. It won two awards at the Bermuda International Film Festival, Best Short Film award at ARPA International Film Festival and Don Quixote special mention award at Avanca Festival. The film was also selected by a number of festivals all over the world, including Sydney, Toronto, Bucharest, Washington DC, Buenos Aires etc, as well as by the Golden Apricot International Film Festival, Shetland’s Screenplay Festival, curated by Mark Kermode; and one of the oldest festivals in Europe in Montecatini. Taniel also had some very special screenings at The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan and at the iconic Lincoln Center in New York. The film also had two very emotional screenings in 2019, tracing the poet’s footsteps in Istanbul, at Hrant Dink Foundation; and at Ghent University in Belgium, Varoujan’s alma mater.
A Poignant Screening at Centrala
A short report on a very heartwarming and emotional trip to Birmingham on Genocide Commemoration Day
Paros Magazine, Istanbul – A Film that Touches Hearts
Screening and poetry reading session in Istanbul, at Hrant Dink Foundation
Reflections on Istanbul: Garo Berberian
Garo was in Istanbul on 24 April, and here are some of his thoughts about our visit…
Two special April screenings
Details of two exciting upcoming screenings
One hectic weekend in New York
Read more…
SR Film Festival New York
SR New York Festival Official Selection and a new review
New York, New York
Read more…
Pom Festival: Memories
Warm memories from cold Toronto…
Best Short Film at ARPA International Film Festival
Taniel wins Best Short Film award at one of the oldest Hollywood festivals
Taniel: a Celebration of Freedom
The film’s producer, Narè Leone Ter-Gabrielyan talks about how she got involved in the film about a poet she admires so much for his love of life and freedom.
Հասուն Արտ | Ripened Field
A story of a love affair with Varoujan’s poetry, sparked by one of his idyllic poems.
Taniel or Daniel … and visiting Istanbul to find Varoujan’s Constantinople
Garo Berberian, the film’s director, explains why he decided to use the Western Armenian spelling of Varoujan’s name after a visit to his hometown.
The Beginning: Garo Berberian
Garo explains why he wanted to make this film, which needed to show the textural fabric of the individual that is lost in facts and stats and arguments about what word you should call the murder of a race.