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Italian Film Festival UK 2007 Single Bill

The Lark Farm (15)
La Masseria delle allodole
Directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
with Paz Vega, Arsinee Khanjian, Tcheky Karyo
Italy, 2006, 122m subtitles

Returning to the big screen after a lengthy absence, the Taviani brothers have crafted a deeply felt adaptation of the Antonia Arslan novel on the Armenian genocide of 1915. An all-star cast tease out the human emotions of sweeping historical events that remain intensely controversial more than ninety years later. The story begins in the charming country estate of Armineh (Khanjian) and Aram Avakian (Karyo) as they ignore the gathering clouds of conflict and prepare for the arrival of Aram's brother from Venice. Then, a Turkish military detachment arrives, slaughters every male member of the family and rounds up the women for a long march into the Syrian desert. During the march, spirited beauty Nunik (Vega) falls in love with a dashing Turkish officer, but even friends in high places seem unlikely to save her and the other women from certain death. Beautifully crafted, The Lark Farm is a timely, thought-provoking examination of a holocaust that history has chosen to forget.

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