America\u2019s immigrant communities have long provided Hollywood with convenient settings for movies about criminality and gang culture. Blockbusters like \u201cThe Godfather\u201d (1972), \u201cGoodfellas\u201d (1990), \u201cRoad to Perdition\u201d (2002) and \u201cGangs of New York\u201d (2002) have glamorized and informed stereotypes of Italian- and Irish-American gangsters. Other migrant communities are relatively new to the big screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cAram, Aram,\u201d the feature film debut of U.S. writer-director Christopher Chambers, prides itself on being the first American feature to be set in the Armenian emigrant community. The first feature set among America\u2019s Armenian expat community is probably Nigol Bezjian\u2019s \u201cChickpeas,\u201d from 1992, starring Arsin\u00e9e Khanjian.<\/p>\n
Chambers\u2019 movie, which premiered at this year\u2019s Los Angeles<\/a> Film Festival, follows the challenges faced by Aram<\/a> (John Roohinian), a Lebanese-born Armenian boy. When his parents are killed in a car accident, he\u2019s compelled to move to Los Angeles to live with his grandfather Arsen (Levon Sharafyan).<\/p>\n \u201cAram, Aram\u201d depicts a neighborhood torn between Armenian and Mexican gangs. Using English and Armenian in developing a believable cast of characters, it delves deep into the roots, traditions and behavior of LA\u2019s Armenian diaspora. Unlike Hollywood\u2019s earlier immigrant films, it provides an authentic-looking portrayal of a migrant experience.<\/p>\n The film opens with a depiction of Aram\u2019s idyllic childhood in Burj Hammoud, Beirut\u2019s Armenian quarter. Shots of a beaming Aram and his loving parents employ a dream-like aesthetic, with soft focus and reverberation. His happiness seems too good to be true, and serves to foreshadow the bad things to come.<\/p>\n By the time Aram arrives in LA, he is shy and reserved, seemingly an entirely different character. Uprooted, he must now adjust to his new life in the United States.<\/p>\n During a recent trip to Beirut en route to a screening of \u201cAram, Aram\u201d at Yerevan\u2019s Golden Apricot International Film Festival, Roohinian spoke with The Daily Star about growing up Armenian in LA.<\/p>\n Like the character he depicts, Roohinian is Lebanese-Armenian, though his family history is less tragic than Aram\u2019s. He was born in Los Angeles, his mother having moved to the U.S. during Lebanon\u2019s Civil War.<\/p>\n As his family doesn\u2019t live in one of LA\u2019s Armenian enclaves, most of his peers haven\u2019t heard of Armenia. He said he often feels the need to educate them. \u201cI feel it\u2019s my responsibility to tell them [about Armenia],\u201d he said. \u201cI show them some pictures from the Internet, but it never shows how deep our culture goes in terms of knowing all these old recipes from all these old grandmas and grandpas. Their first question is always, \u2018So what do you guys eat?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Though LA is home to one of the world\u2019s largest Armenian communities, most outsiders know very little about it. In a press statement, Chambers describes LA\u2019s Armenians as \u201cwidely stereotyped and widely misunderstood,\u201d which sparked his interest and drove him to make the movie.<\/p>\n