Home PortA Documentary project in development by Helen Walter-Kurkjian

,Short synopsis:

It’s the story of my father, who has kept a secret for half a century of his life. He changed his identity in order to illegally obtain a passport.

In 1938 he was born into an Armenian family in Haifa in British-ruled Pales-tine. Ten years later, when the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated, the family fled to Beirut, Lebanon. In the early 60s he immigrated to Germany. My father’s life has adapted to the movements of history: the Palestinian-Israeli conflict took his fate in un-expected directions, an Armenian – uprooted for generations - finally finds a new home.

For almost 40 years he hasn’t been to the places of his childhood, he doesn’t even know where the grave of his parents is. My father feels guilt and shame about the criminal step he had to take to change his life. I think it’s time to confront him with that. I want to take him on a journey to his past, visiting the places of his childhood in Beirut and Haifa, to go deeper into his personal conflict in order to free him.

Together we will look for his lost identity. And maybe, on the journey, I’ll learn something about mine. It is a story about loss and discovery, about chang-ing identities and of course, about home.

”Everyone wants to change the world. But nobody wants to start with himself.”

Maro Markarian - Armenian poet

- Country: Germany/France- Genre: Creative documentary- Length: 52 / 90 Minutes- Shooting locations: Middle East, Germany- Provisional budget: 150 000 € - Script and directing: Helen Walter-Kurkjian- Production: Guillaume Protsenko for MVMT-Films (France/Lebanon) - Status: in early development

Info@mvmt-films.comwww.mvmt-films.com

Director’s statement

In my childhood and throughout my youth I always had the feeling that my father was hiding something from me. Dif-ferently from my sister and brother I kept asking many ques-tions and finally made my father write down his memories. Reading his life story I had an impression of the whole puzzle of his life for the first time. But my questions haven’t ended, they have only grown. This is my motivation for taking him to the places of his childhood and asking him my questions along the way. How did he feel when he stood on the harbor of Beirut holding the passport of a stranger with the intention of leaving the country, which was only a temporary home for him? How does one define the word “home”? What does this word mean to people like my father?

In relation to the current discussion on migration and in-tegration in Europe, I’m convinced that many people can iden-tify with this story and the film. It will be relevant to audiences in European countries as well as in the Middle East and in the Armenian Diaspora all over the world.

Guillaume Protsenko, producer (France/Lebanon)

In 2010 Guillaume graduated from Moscow State Cinematographic Institute (VGIK). He pro-duced and directed a number of short films. His diploma short film “Peremeni ‘89”, (docu-fiction) was screened at several festivals. He also worked on various other film productions in Russia, France and Lebanon. He co-produced and developed “Cinetrain”, two full length documentaries, shown in Cannes and Moscow Festivals.

Helen Walter-Kurkjian, director (Germany)I was educated as a 1st AD in film production in the

ISSF Berlin and studied Theatre in the Vienna State Institute of Performing Arts.

2000-2005 I lived and worked in Berlin, where I had several free-lance jobs in film production and festival organizing. In 2005 I moved to Russia, where I’m sing-ing in a band and working as an actress. I initiated

and performed in international theatre productions. My art projects have received support from the German and Austrian Embassy, among others.“Home Port” will be my first documentary.

Visual Treatment of the film

In the film I will work with a DoP, who will follow my father and moth-er in the small Bavarian town, Selbitz, where they live. There will be phone calls and meetings with me and my parents preparing the journey. We will then travel together to Haifa and Jerusalem and Beirut, to places from his childhood. We will meet people, who remember him or his family and have similar memories to share. The film will focus on the unexpected emotional moments that occur throughout the journey, whether captured by me on the small HD camera I carry with me at all times, or the perceptive work of the DoP documenting my family’s interactions.

Young Raffi Ispiryan and today - Emanuel Walter Kurkjian. One and the same person?