Datum/Zeit
Date(s) - 03/07/2017
19:30 - 22:00
Veranstaltungsort
Max Liebermann Haus
auf Google-Maps ansehen
Kategorien
Sommersemester 2017
Torgespräch
im Rahmen der Rudolf-Arnheim-Gastprofessur
Die Veranstaltung wird in englischer Sprache stattfinden.
Prof. Sona Tatoyan
Storytelling as Spiritual Vehicle
A Response to the Armenian Genocide and the Syrian Refugee Crisis
We look around the world today and see more clearly than ever the power of narrative. Whomever controls the narrative, maintains the power. Storytelling is something that is inherently human, and inherently shapes the world we live in. Which stories we subscribe
to and how we use them to dominate or be dominated create our reality. Tragedies, like
the Armenian Genocide and the current catastrophe in Syria, have certain dominant narratives attached to them which in many ways do not allow for a shift in perspective
nor transcendence of the wounds they have created.
Ms. Tatoyan is interested in the intersection of the power of storytelling and Eastern teachings to shed a light on how we navigate trauma and sublimate the very calcified and damaging narratives that keep us entrenched in identity politics and disempowerment.
How can an appropriated narrative be reclaimed holistically, non-violently and to the benefit and elevation of all? This talk will explore how Ms. Tatoyan is broaching these issues with her current work as a filmmaker.
Sona Tatoyan is a Syrian-Armenian-American stage/ film actor, writer and producer, now based in Berlin. She is a graduate of the William Esper Studio in New York City and holds a BA in Theatre and English Literature from Wake Forest University, where the mentorship of the poet Dr. Maya Angelou was instrumental in inspiring her work today as an artist and activist. She received her Yoga Teaching Certification in Goa, India and holds a second degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. An accomplished stage actress, Ms. Tatoyan was featured in the world premieres of José Rivera’s Brainpeople at The American Conservatory Theater, Massacre (Sing to your Children) at The Goodman Theater, and Boleros for the Disenchanted, 2008 winner of the Outstanding Ensemble Connecticut Critics Awards, at Yale Repertory Theater, among others. Ms. Tatoyan’s feature film debut was the lead role in The Journey (2002) – the first American independent film ever shot in Armenia. The Journey won the Audience Award at the Milan International Film Festival in 2002. Currently, Ms. Tatoyan is in pre-production to star in Celestina, a feature film she is also producing through her production company Door/Key Productions alongside her mentor Academy Award® winning producer Barrie M. Osborne (The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix). As both a producer and actress, Ms. Tatoyan is in pre-production with the feature film Three Apples Fell From Heaven, a historical epic on the still denied Armenian Genocide, to be directed by the internationally acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur ( Elizabeth, The Bandit Queen ) produced through her new Berlin based social justice film production company, Disruptive Narrative, with her producing partner the international human rights attorney Jennifer Robinson.
As a writer, her first feature film script The First Full Moon (the first of a trilogy) – was a 2011 Sundance /RAWI participant and 2012 Dubai Film Connection/Festival Project. Ms. Tatoyan and Ms. Robinson have also formed the Berlin based non-profit, Hakawati: – a project in partnership with The Sundance Institute to provide storytelling workshops in various disciplines of cinema to refugee youth.
