Tamar Salibian '94

Beautiful Armenians

Screening: Saturday, 3:00 p.m. followed by Q&A with the filmmaker

Tamar Salibian’s experimental documentary Beautiful Armenians is a composite portrait of Armenians in the Diaspora who reveal varying levels of connection to and detachment from their ancestral culture. Part-travelogue, part family narrative, the film is an exploration of the idea of transnational identity. In it, Salibian presents interviews with subjects young and old, comic and serious, who talk frankly and simply about how they view language, displacement, and family history. Most of the film’s characters are presented as simply going about their day-to-day tasks — sewing, playing cards, eating meals — as they converse about family, memory, and culture. The film’s simplicity is sustained by larger, more complex ideas that alternately come into focus and recede.

Filmmaker Bio:

Tamar Salibian '94 Tamar's interest in the arts began early in childhood and continues to drive her personal and professional work. She holds an MFA in film from California Institute of the Arts and a BFA in photography from Massachusetts College of Art. Salibian’s films have screened in various festivals worldwide. Her documentary "Beautiful Armenians" screened in such festivals as the Golden Apricot in Armenia, the ARPA Festival in Los Angeles, and the Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto where it was sponsored by the Dove "Real Beauty" campaign. Salibian has contributed to such projects as an environmental film for The Center for American Progress, a music video for punk band Pretty Girls Make Graves, and numerous documentary films and network reality television programs. Tamar currently lives in the Los Angeles area where she is a Media Studies PhD student at Claremont Graduate University.