VOCAL
TRAINING
Armenia
Mary taught her Revolutionary Send Workshop at Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography. An amazing day with talented students!
Sose International Film Festival
in Yerevan, Armenia
I was a Jury Member at the SOSE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL in Yerevan, Armenia.. The amazing Founders, Rita Khalatyan and Syom Sahakyan, have been running the festival for six years. The festival is named after the most courageous and strong Armenian woman - the mother of Armenia - Sose Mayrig (1865-1953).
I am of Armenian heritage. When I found out that Sose was from the same town as my family - Bitlis, Armenia - I could hear my ancestors calling me. My great grandfather, Setrak Simonian, could very well have been killed the same night as Sose's husband, Serob Vartanian, during a freedom fighter meeting in Bitlis on November 1, 1899. After my great grandfather's death, my family name was changed from Simonian to Setrakian - "son of Setrak" to honor my great grandfather. His son, my grandfather Arpaxat (Sox) Setrakian, escaped the Turkish Red Sultan in the early 1900's and came through Ellis Island, eventually raising his family in San Francisco, CA. (Sox was in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.)
Beautiful films and life changing stories are being shared in Yerevan, Armenia at the SOSE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. Congratulations to all!
Mary Setrakian
