Arby Ovanessian
Arby Ovanessian is an Iranian-Armenian film director and stage director living in Paris.
Biography
Arby Ovanessian was born on February 20, 1942, in New Julfa, the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, founded in 1606 by Shah Abbas I. This area is a significant cultural center for Armenians in Iran, named after the city of Julfa in Nakhichevan, from where many Armenians were deported by the Safavid Shah. After completing his university studies in Tehran, he went on to study film at the London Film School. There, he created "Parvana," an animated film directed by Richard Williams, which represented the United Kingdom at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.
Upon returning to Iran, he consistently combined theater and cinema. He joined the selection committee of the Shiraz Arts Festival, which allowed him to discover a young, previously unknown writer and newspaper seller, Abbas Nalbandian. He staged a memorable production of "A New, Profound, and Important Research on the Fossils of the Twenty-Fifth Geological Era" for the festival's second edition.
In 1970, Peter Brook invited him to participate in the experimental research at the International Center for Theatre Research. He collaborated with Brook on the staging of "Orgast" by English poet Ted Hughes at the Shiraz Arts Festival. From 1970 to 1976, he worked with directors such as Jerzy Grotowski and Andrei Serban. In 1976, he co-founded the Charsoo Theatre in Tehran with Sadr al-Din Zahed.
He moved to Paris in 1979, after the Islamic Revolution, despite not speaking French. Since then, he has continued to promote Armenian culture tirelessly.
He is one of the most fervent advocates of experimentation in theater and cinema. His theatrical productions have been presented at numerous festivals around the world and at the Théâtre des Nations.
He refuses to consider his theater as political, stating in 1979: "The occurrence of a revolution does not mean that the artist himself becomes revolutionary, but it means that what he believed in has come to fruition. Creation is always revolutionary, but it constantly evolves. Whereas, in terms of politics... sometimes things come to a halt."
Works
He has directed dozens of productions in four different languages: English, French, Persian, and Armenian.
1967: Miss Julie by August Strindberg1968: Honorables mendiants by Hagop Baronian1968: A New, Profound, and Important Research on the Fossils of the Twenty-Fifth Geological Era by Abbas Nalbandian1969: Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen1969: Sur la route by Levon Shant1970: Vis et Ramin by Mahin Jahanbeglou1971: The Ward Wants to Be the Guardian by Peter Handke1971: Introspection by Peter Handke1972: Tout à la fois by Abbas Nalbandian1972: The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov1973: Happy Days by Samuel Beckett1973: As We Were by Arthur Adamov1973: Creditors by August Strindberg1974: The Man, the Beast and the Virtue by Luigi Pirandello1974: Caligula by Albert Camus1974: Little Eyolf by Henrik Ibsen1975: For Someone Else by Levon Shant1976: Here Appeared a Knight by Mahin Jahanbeglou1976: The Sleeper's Den by Peter Gill1976: Śmieszny staruszek by Tadeusz Różewicz1976: The Two-Character Play by Tennessee Williams1979: The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov. With Sacha Pitoëff, Paloma Matta. Autumn Festival in Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou.1983: How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life with texts by Levon Shant, Arshile Gorky, and Vasken Chouchanian. Hôtel de Saint-Aignan, Paris1983: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. With Fanny Cottençon, Michel Robin, Andrzej Seweryn. Théâtre de la Ville1987: Les Merveilleux by Yéghya Kasparian, Cathédrale Sainte-Croix de Paris des Arméniens1988: The Chained by Levon Shant, Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière1994: Act Without Words I & II by Samuel Beckett1998: For Someone Else by Levon Shant. Théâtre Espace Acteur2007: The Invasion by Arthur Adamov2007: Across the Board on Tomorrow Morning by William Saroyan2009: The Poetic Situation in America Since Alexandre Dumas and Several Others by William Saroyan
Films directed
1964: The Mask1965: Parvanna1967: Lebbeus in the Name of Thaddeus. Ghara Kelisa1972: La Source1985: How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life2006: Rouben Mamoulian, The Golden Age of Broadway and Hollywood2019: Haratch 83; Known and Unknown Portrait, a documentary about Arpik Missakian, the former editor-in-chief of Haratch