The documentary “Our Atlantida”, which presents the dire consequences of the Armenian Genocide, has been included in the major program for the 14^th Istanbul International Independent Film Festival. In an interview with “Armenpress”, the film’s director Artur Sukiasyan mentioned that the film is included in the film festival’s Home Program.

“The film will be shown in Istanbul. During a special program devoted to the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on February 22, Turkish and Armenian film directors will share their personal stories and will talk about identifying the thorny issues through cinema. I will also be taking part in this event along with Turkish filmmaker Devrim Akaya. I’ll be talking about the film “Our Atlantida”, while Devrim will be talking about his documentary called “Diyar”, which is about the director’s Armenian grandfather who rediscovers his family’s history. Arsineh Khanjian will also be participating in the event. This year the festival will be held on 12-22 February,” the filmmaker mentioned.

Artur Sukiasyan added that the film “Our Atlantida” would also be shown in the film market of the prestigious Visions du Reel International Film Festival in Nyon, Switzerland on 17-25 April.

The film “Our Atlantida” is an Armenian-French-Turkish production. The film is about the Armenian camp in Constantinople which was built by orphans in the 1960s and was later taken away by the Turkish authorities. This is a journey between the past and the present and shows how the children of that camp always try not to forget that camp after three decades. When the main character of the film shares his stories and memories of the camp, another longer story starts to be revealed. The film is not about the Armenian Genocide, but it does present the consequences of that tragedy. The film was created with the support of the Cinema Center of France, the Armenian-Turkish Cinema Platform, the National Cinema Center of Armenia and the Hrant Dink Foundation. Shootings were held in Armenia and Turkey.

The name “Our Atlantida” is taken from Hrant Dink’s long article printed in Agos Weekly. In his article, Hrant Dink talked about the Armenian Question, touched upon the camp in Constantinople and said: “The camp was our home, our everything, our Atlantida”. “I was inspired by these words. There was a small Armenian civilization in that territory of Turkey, and the Armenians started from scratch and lived there,” Artur Sukiasyan emphasized during the interview.