Last week, renowned Canadian film director Atom Egoyan was in Turkey for the first time. Although he had received many invitations from film festivals before, he had preferred not to come. He had legitimate reasons, fears and concerns. ‘Ararat’, the film he shot 13 years ago, had faced intense reaction and repression in Turkey; and could not be screened.

Tigran Hamasyan begun his tour with the Yerevan State Chamber Choir led by conductor Harutyun Topikyan titled ‘Luys i Luso (Light of Light)’, blending Armenian Churh Music with jazz, in June. Within the scope of this tour, Hamasyan has given concerts at Ani and Akhtamar, and will come to Istanbul after giving concerts in Diyarbakır, Kayseri and Vakıflı.

Known as the greatest living Armenian composer, Tigran Mansurian was in Istanbul for a special occasion. Although I was initially overwhelmed by his presence, thanks to his kindness and sincerity, our interview soon turned into a sweet conversation.

Eileen Khatchadourian, who achieved great popularity with her first album ‘Midan’ published in 2007, was also one of the most talked about artists of the ‘In Memoriam April 24’ concert.

The harvest of the Anatolian travels photographer Norair Chahinian has carried out since 2012 have now been brought together in book form under the title ‘The Power of Emptiness’. Emptiness may be powerful in all its forms, however the emptiness of Anatolia has an added layer of confusion to it: If houses, ruins, mosques converted from churches, people and bones are still there, what is this huge emptiness before our eyes? Or perhaps we should turn our gaze to the last words of the text Baron Sarkis Seropyan wrote for this book: “Today, the Silk Road, Ani, monasteries, churches, and even the houses and rooms lie empty, all over, all across the land… I wonder why.”

The Golden Tulip National and International Competitions and the National Documentary Competition, and also the closing ceremony of the 24th Istanbul Film Festival have been cancelled following the blocking of the screening of the documentary ‘Bakur’ yesterday.

The Grammy-award winning band has embarked on its “Wake Up the Souls’ tour of concerts planned for the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide with a concert held at The Forum in Los Angeles on April 6. The tour will end in Yerevan on April 23.

The exhibition titled ‘Spectography: Tracing the Ghosts’ opened at Depo on March 14, and Arménouhie Kévonian’s book ‘Gülizar’s Black Wedding’, published by the Aras Publishing House in Turkish, was also launched during the opening. The exhibition features the photographs and videos of three Swiss artists, Anna Barsaghian, Stefan Kristensen and Uriel Orlow, produced during their travels across Anatolia.

Entrusted to her daughter fifty years after she was abducted, the memoirs of Gülizar have been published in Turkish by the Aras Publishing House with the title ‘Gülizar’s Black Wedding’. Gülizar’s story contains messages for us all…

‘1915’, a US-produced psychological thriller about the Genocide, will be released across the USA on April 22. Co-written and co-directed by Garin Hovannisian and Alec Mouhibian, the film features Simon Abkarian, Angela Sarafyan, Sam Page, Nikolai Kinski and Jim Piddock in its leading roles.

The Syrian singer Lena Chamamyan is one of the most popular names in music in the Middle East today. Chamamyan brought her first album out in 2006, and she mostly sings in Arabic and Armenian, blending traditional folk music with jazz. Beside pain and death, her voice and lyrics convey life and hope.

Celebrated novelist Yaşar Kemal died in Istanbul on Saturday at the age of 92.