TRACING THE ARCHIVAL SOURCES OF THE FRENCH FEATURE FILM 'ANDRANIK' ABOUT THE ARMENIANS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR(1928)

The first and still the only film about Andranik Ozanian (1865–1927) was shot during the summer of 1928 in Bulgaria. Who financed and created the movie, why did the director Archavir Chakhatouny (1882–1957) choose Bulgaria for the scenes in the open, why wasn’t the film shown in Soviet Armenia and how did it get to Yerevan – those are part of the questions the paper will try to answer. To that end the author searched for the archival documents in the archives and museums of Armenia and Bulgaria. The richest source is the personal fund of the Armenian emigrant in Paris Arshavir Shakhatuni (1882–1957). After his death, the documents were transferred to the Yeghishe Charents Museum of Literature and Arts in Yerevan. Among them, a special place is occupied by biographical documents, documents about theatrical roles and roles in cinema, which he performed, materials about early cinema and the history of the creation of the film “Andranik”. The National Archives of Armenia keeps the documents which detail the participation of Chakhatouny in the First World War and in the government of the First Armenian Republic (1918–1920) as the commandant and chief of police of Yerevan. The most valuable source is the film “Andranik” which was received by the State Archives of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) in 1972. During the period, the name of Andranik was banned until the end of the 80s of the 20th century. There was censorship and contradicting assessments of Andranik by Armenians and Azerbaijanis (“hero” or “enemy”) were “concealed”. For this reason, the film might have got into Armenia through the Armenian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, founded by the resolution of the Communist Party of the ASSR. The official activity of the Society was related to the cultural events abroad but in fact it was used to gather information about the political emigrants. In the Bulgarian archives one may find the archive “traces” of Chakhatouny’s performances on the Bulgarian theatrical scenes and also his correspondence with the actor Georgi Stamatov (1893–1965), that documents contain the valuable data on the history of the film creation. Thanks to the archives, the film ‘Andranik’ can be seen and the story of its creation and distribution in the past century can be reproduced.