MEL
MEL
Performance
A pile of gold medals reminds us of – what would at least appear to have been – a glorious past and of the successes that Mel celebrated as Meline: winning European championships, participating in the Olympics, and setting world records. Armenia was proud of this quite outstanding athlete. The pile of private photos, however, show that he had always considered himself to be a man. And the images of anti-queer protests in Armenia alone make it clear why, in order to pursue a fresh start, he had to leave behind his homeland, his family and also his coach, the latter an individual who was always there for him despite the many questionable statements and methods. In the Netherlands, Mel has to make another decision: for gender reassignment surgery, he would also have to give up professional sport. Amongst the glances into the past and those directed forwards, it is above all the quiet and observant moments in which we grow close to Mel. A deeply moving documentary dedicated to the fate of an individual – as well as the question of what it means to share a burden.
Text: Merlin Webers
06.11.2024 | 10:30 | Kammerbühne (original version with English subtitles + simultaneous translation into German)
Supporting film: CROSSING THE BLUE (Victoria Aleksanyan, AM/NL 2022, 13 Min)
Inna Sahakyan
Hrayr Sargsyan, Paul Cohen
Jaïm Sahuleka
Armen Papyan
Annemiek van der Hell, Windmill Film
Inna Sahakyan, Paul Cohen - Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts with an M.A. degree in Fine Arts Criticism, Inna (*1977) has more than 15 years of experience of working in the film-industry in Armenia. Since 2003 she has been working as a producer/director at Bars Media Documentary Film Studio. In her first years in the studio, Inna has directed and produced a number of PSAs, short and fundraising documentaries and documentary series for various international organizations and local TVs. Inna’s award winning documentary, co-directed with Arman Yeritsyan, “The Last Tightrope Dancer in Armenia”, is an international co-production with PBS(US), NHK(Japan), MDR (Germany), YLE(Finland) and other international channels. She has also produced studio's feature documentaries “Donkeymentary” and “One, Two, Three”. Inna's current project, a documentary-animated film, “Aurora’s Sunrise” (Armenian-German coproduction), is the first Armenian majority project that was granted Eurimages support.
The movies of director/camera person Paul Cohen (*1957) are highly artistic and show a personal style emphasizing the human aspect. They have received numerous awards at festivals both at home and abroad. Cohen leads workshops (including IDFA), is a guest lecturer (at the Dutch Film Academy), jury member, adviser and coach.His films focuses on both cultural and social subject matters.
