30 November 2014, 22:54
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Marc Hairapetian: 30 Years of Spirit in Film

Last year, among the international jury members of the “Golden Apricot," the International Film Festival that takes place each year in Yerevan, there was one Armenian name in particular that stood out amongst the rest: Marc Hairapetian.

According to Europe's largest and most prestigious German-language newspaper, BILD, Marc Hairapetian is Germany´s best film critic. It's not too bad, I thought, to have one of the German nation's best critic of film as an Armenian. In the many years I've spent researching Armenians in cinema, I had not yet come across his name. Yet at the festival, Marc came, for the first time, to Armenia, so we got a chance to know each other.

Hairapetian was born February 6th, 1968 in Frankfurt am Main. His Armenian father, Ardavas Hairapetian, was the founder of the Armenian Society in their home town. At the age of 16, he founded and became the editor of Spirit - Ein Lächeln Im Sturm [Spirit - A Smile in the Storm], a magazine for film, theatre, music, literature and audio drama.

He has often been a jury member for German film festivals and has worked for newspapers (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung) and magazines (Der Spiegel, Spiegel Online, Cinema, ME. Movies) in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and USA. He has conducted exclusive interviews with world-known personalities like Elia Kazan, Charles Aznavour, Billy Wilder, Gregory Peck, Sir Peter Ustinov, Christiane Kubrick (widow of Stanley Kubrick), Anne Hathaway, Kim Novak, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Gere, Tom Cruise, Felix Werner (son of Oskar Werner), Atom Egoyan or Henry Kissinger.

Hairapetian with famous American actor, Richard GereHairapetian with famous American actor, Richard Gere

He held a long interview with director Fatih Akin about his new film, "The Cut" and the Armenian genocide, which was later published exclusively for Spirit.

Hairapetian with Fatih AkinHairapetian with Fatih Akin

Hairapetian is the co-author of Oskar Werner's biography, Das Filmbuch [The Film Book] (Vienna 2002) and since 2011, he has been a board member of Kinomuseum Berlin [The Berlin Cinema Museum] and his film screenings of 70mm and 35mm prints of film classics are well known in Germany.

However, there is another sphere that Hairapetian has tried out his luck: acting! Since 1996, he has worked as an actor for television and cinema in about 25 productions. His new film, the erotic thriller, "True Love Ways," directed by Mathieu Seiler, was shown this year in a special market screening at Film Festival in Cannes and celebrated the world premier at Hofer Filmtage (October 2014). 

Hairapetian is depicted here with the legendary French-Armenian singer, Charles AznavourHairapetian is depicted here with the legendary French-Armenian singer, Charles Aznavour

In November of 2014, Hairapetian's magazine, Spirit, celebrated its 30th anniversary. The party for the publication, which took place recently on November 21, included two science fiction film screenings ("V for Vendetta" and "Coherence"), an introduction, and a DJ set by Marc Hairapetian at Cinema Filmrauschpalast Berlin. Many VIPs were surely in attendance. 

After Hairapetian's trip to Yerevan, he wrote an article, which you can find published in English in Spirit here

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