Noura Kevorkian is an award-winning documentary filmmaker (writer, director, editor, and cinematographer). She has won numerous awards including a 2023 Peabody Award[1] for her 2022 film Batata, which is submitted for consideration to the 2024 Oscars in the Documentary Feature Category.

Early life and education

Noura Kevorkian is a Lebanese Canadian Armenian filmmaker. Her Lebanese father, Barkev Kevorkian, was a machinist. Her Syrian mother, Dzaghig Kevorkian, is a homemaker. Noura was born in Aleppo, Syria, and raised in Lebanon until her emigration to Canada in her late teens. Noura's upbringing has resulted in her being multi-lingual (Armenian, Arabic, English) and multi-cultural.

Noura's father, Barkev, was the son of refugees, born in the Karantina refugee camp outside Beirut, Lebanon.[2] The son of Armenian genocide survivors who had been displaced from their ancestral home in Marash, Turkey, during the Armenian genocide (1915–1923), Barkev was forced to work at the age of nine years. He self-learned to read English and soon mastered engineering and science books. He became a successful machine maker and supplied machine parts to factories in Beirut, especially during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990).

Noura's family history and upbringing greatly influenced her work, resulting in a documentary about the Armenian Genocide and the Lebanese Civil War entitled Anjar: Flowers, Goats and Heroes[3] as well as a hybrid documentary-drama film about her father's late-age Parkinson's-like disease entitled 23 Kilometres.[4]

Noura's family moved from Aleppo to Beirut when she was one year old. A few years later her family moved permanently to the small Armenian village of Anjar (Aanjar) in the fertile Bekaa Valley (Beqqa) region of eastern Lebanon. Here, Noura grew up with her parents and four sisters. The five Kevorkian girls attended the Armenian Evangelical Secondary School in Anjar, established by German missionaries - Hillsbund - after the resettlement of the Musa Dagh Armenians in 1939. Noura's film Anjar: Flowers, Goats and Heroes depicts this idyllic time of her youth.

Noura's films focus on women, social issues and human rights.[5] Noura is the granddaughter of survivors of the Armenian genocide. This inter-generational trauma has been well-established by medical/sociological research, and has informed Noura's sense of identity, cultural pride, humanitarianism, and documentary storytelling / filmmaking.

Noura's childhood was infused by listening and absorbing the stories of her family, her relatives, and the countless elders of Anjar. She has personal experience of war violence and trauma, having lived through the Lebanese Civil War. Noura went into self-exile to leave this violence and sought, in her late-teens, a new life as an immigrant to Canada. She graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) in economics and finance, with minor studies in Middle East history and cinema studies from the University of Toronto. Noura continued her filmmaking journey with training at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), the Summer Institute of Film and Television (SIFT),[6] the Canadian Film Centre, Directors Guild of Canada, and other industry courses, programs and education.

Film career

Noura produces many of her films under her company Saaren Films.[7]

  • Batata (2022) writer, director, producer (125 min feature).
A feature documentary covering 10 years in the life of a Syrian woman named Maria and her family of potato farmers who find themselves stuck in Lebanon as stateless refugees.
imdb website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16452546/
youtube:
English - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vje8K-1XMY
French - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1OmaFyiTMM
AWARDS
WINNER: Peabody Award (2023), USA-International.[8]
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to watch the award acceptance speech and video.
OFFICIAL ENTRY: Academy Awards (2024) for Best Feature Documentary Film.[9]
WINNER: Best Feature Documentary Film Tanit d’Or – Carthage Filmfest (2022), Tunisia.[10]
TOP 10 Audience Award: HotDocs (2022), International Documentary Filmfest, Canada[11][12][13]
WINNER: Amnesty Human Rights Award (2022) – Durban International Filmfest, South Africa.[14]
WINNER: Human Rights Award ‘Tanit D’Or’ (2022) – Carthage Filmfest, Tunisia.[15]
WINNER: Vanguard Award (2023) – Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC).[16]
WINNER: Special Jury Prize (2023) - Malmo Arab Filmfest, Norway.[17]
WINNER: Best Pitch Award (2012) - Dubai International Filmfest, UAE.[18]
WINNER: Amnesty Award (2023) Durban International Filmfest, South Africa.[19][20]
HONOURABLE MENTION: Special Jury Prize (2023) - Directors Guild of Canada (Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary), Canada.[21]
NOMINATION: Canadian Screen Award (2022) - Best Documentary Feature, Canada.[22][23]
NOMINATION: Amnesty International Award (Human Rights) (2022), Thessaloniki, Greece.[24]
EXHIBITIONS
Official Competition: FIPADOC Filmfest, France.
Official Competition: HOTDOCS Documentary Filmfest, Canada.
Official Selection: THESSALONIKI Filmfest, Greece.
Official Competition: MUNICH DOK.fest, Germany.
Official Competition: IT’S ALL TRUE / É TUDO VERDADE International Documentary Filmfest, Brazil.
Official Competition: DURBAN, International Filmfest, South Africa.
Official Competition: KITZBÜHEL, Filmfest, Austria.
Official Selection: DOC EDGE, Filmfest, New Zealand.
Official Selection: GALWAY Film Fleadh, Ireland.
Official Competition: CARTHAGE Filmfest, Tunisia.
Official Selection: DEVOUR Filmfest, Canada.
Official Competition: MALMO Arab Filmfest, Norway.
Official Competition: LIGHT HOUSE International Filmfest, USA.
  • 23 Kilometres (2015) Writer, Director, Producer (80 min feature).
On the Damascus Road in Lebanon’s beautiful Beqaa Valley, an Armenian man (Noura’s father, Barkev) with late-stage Parkinson’s takes one last journey.
imdb website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4700522/
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10n1vePSuA
EXHIBITIONS
Official Competition: KARLOVY VARY International Filmfest, Czech Republic.
Official Competition: DUBAI International Filmfest, UAE.
Official Selection: MUNICH Filmfest, Germany.
Anjar: Flowers, Goats and Heroes (2009) Writer, Director, Producer

(52 min / 86 min feature)

Noura’s debut feature documentary about her childhood village of Anjar in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, and the history of her people - a group of Armenians who collectively survived the 20th century’s first genocide. A complex, emotional POV documentary about a young girl growing up during the Lebanese Civil War.
imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1764159/
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Q3gn3yWWE
EXHIBITIONS
Official Competition: Beirut DOCUDAYS Filmfest, Lebanon.
Official Competition: Arizona ARPA Filmfest, USA.
Official Competition: Rome MED Filmfest, Italy.
  • Veils Uncovered (2002) Composer, Writer, Director, Producer

(26 min short)

A journey into the unexplored, competitive sexual world of the veiled women of Damascus, Syria as they shop for lingerie in a public market run by men and discuss their beauty tips behind closed doors.
imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1138472
AWARDS
WINNER: Best Canadian Documentary (2002), NFB-Reel World Filmfest, Canada.
WINNER: Best Documentary ‘Golden Sheaf Award’ (2002), Yorkton International Filmfest, Canada.
WINNER: Best Documentary (2002), New York International Independent Film & Videofest, USA.
EXHIBITIONS
Official Competition: Amsterdam International Documentary Fest (IDF), Netherlands.
Official Competition: NFB-Reel World Filmfest, Canada,
Official Competition: Yorkton International Filmfest, Canada.
Official Competition: Woodstock Filmfest, USA.
Official Competition: New York International Independent Film & Video fest, USA.
Screening: Ottawa Human Rights Film Festival, Canada.
Screening: Vera Filmfest, Finland.
Museum Screening: Freiburg, Kommunales Kino, Germany.
Museum Screening: Amsterdam, Prince Clause Fund, Netherlands.
Museum Screening: Rotterdam, Kunsthal Museum, Netherlands.
Museum Screening: Bern, Kinemathek, Switzerland.
Television: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Canada.
Television: Documentary Channel, Canada.
Television: TV Ontario, Canada,
Television: Sundance Channel, USA.
Television: TV One, Finland.

Styles and themes

Noura’s heritage, early family life, experience of violence, and personal emigration journey are all reflected in her filmmaking. Noura is ‘…interested in telling stories of people who are marginalised.’,[25] covering subjects as varied as lingerie,[26] Parkinson’s disease, genocide, civil war, and refugees. The highly acclaimed film Batata involves Noura following the life of a Syrian woman and her family for 10 years as they turned from migrant farmhands to refugees during the Syrian Civil War. As film critic Marc Glassman wrote, "Kevorkian’s eye for human interaction, and particularly between children, is remarkable. The sense of life in the camps is vivid — startlingly real and evocative.".[27] Noura also declares she is "attracted to very strong women" and telling their stories to the world.[28]

Future projects

Noura’s current project is a feature documentary film based on the non-fiction biography 'The Taste of Longing'[29] by Suzanne Evans[30] about an Ontario woman named Ethel Mulvany living with bipolar disorder whose efforts and creativity helped save the lives of 400+ women and children prisoners of war, incarcerated in the infamous Changi Prison (WWII POW camp) in Singapore.[31]

Other works

Bottles (2022) Writer, Director (4 min short).
A Canadian Film Centre short film about a woman who missing her lost sister, conjures her with sounds from her bottles.
imdb website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27533839/
youtube: https://youtube/q0lol3GMzfE
Sex + Religion (2010) Writer, Director, Producer (one episode) (TV 30 min).
Commissioned by Vision Television (Ontario) as a 13-part (half-hour each) series about how sex and religion co-exist, and how sex fits into the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. Noura produced episode #8 ‘The Wedding Night’.
imdb website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1763901/
Anjar: The Heroes of Musa Dagh (2007) Writer, Director, Producer (TV 55 min).
Commissioned by OMNI Television (Ontario) as a one-hour documentary in the Armenian language about the history of the Musa Dagh (Turkey) community’s resistance, fight against the Turkish Army, and sea-rescue during the Armenian Genocide (1915).
imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1757670/
Code Green (2006) Director (three episodes) (TV 30 min of 6 episodes.
Commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the world’s first environmental home-makeover reality-challenge TV series. Noura directed three episodes in Ontario.
imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808031/
Heroes of the Mountain (2004) Writer, Director, Producer (19 min musical photo-essay).
Choreographed to stunning original music, this 19-minute photo-essay creates a montage of over 500 stills, portraits, archival photographs, CGI images and digital video images, to tell the story of more than one hundred years of the heroic Armenian community and people of Musa Dagh (Turkey).
Opening Night Feature: Pan Musa Daghian Symposium, Lebanon.
Screenings: Armenian Community Centres in Toronto, Montreal, and Cambridge, Canada.
Dreams of Education (2003) Writer, Director (short).
A short documentary about the challenges faced by Canadian high school students in their pursuit of higher education. Commissioned by The National Film Board of Canada.
National Film Board of Canada, Canada.
CBC Television, Canada.

Personal life

Noura is married to film and TV producer Paul Scherzer. Together they have two children. A successful independent producer, Scherzer runs his Toronto-based production company ‘Six Island Productions’[32] creating film and television and specializing in internationally engaging dramas, comedy, and documentary projects. Kevorkian and Scherzer collaborate on various projects and complement each other's professional talents and strengths.

Legacy

In 2023, Noura was bestowed with the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) Institute's Vanguard Award "given to an emerging or mid-career professional filmmaker, who demonstrates a keen artistic sensibility and forward-thinking approach to the craft, with the potential to lead the next generation of doc-makers."[33] Noura has been commended for her commitment to shedding light on, and amplifying, the lives and experiences of marginalised persons and communities, such as women of colour, refugees, and those struggling with illness or poverty.

References

  1. ↑ Voyles, Blake (September 12, 2023). "83rd Peabody Award Winners". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  2. ↑ Kevorkian, Noura (April 27, 2022). "The Syrian refugee crisis still requires our urgent attention". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Anjar: Flowers, Goats and Heroes". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  4. ↑ "23 Kilometres". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  5. ↑ Laing, Sarah (September 7, 2023). "Meet the 2023 Power List of Canadian Women in Film". Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  6. ↑ "The Summer Institute of Film and Television". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Saaren Films". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Peabody Awards". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Oscars 2024". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Hotdocs Top 20 Daily". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  12. ↑ Mullen, Pat (May 2, 2022). "Batata holds top spot in hot docs audience awards race". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  13. ↑ Greenleaf, Sarah (April 27, 2022). "Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Noura Kevorkian – "Batata"". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  14. ↑ Greenleaf, Sarah (April 27, 2022). "Canadian Armenian filmmaker Noura Kevorkian's "Batata" wins Best Amnesty Human Rights award at DIFF". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  15. ↑ "2022 Winner Tanit d'Or". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  16. ↑ Tracy, Andrew (November 20, 2023). "Doc Institute names 2023 award recipients". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  17. ↑ "MAFF 2023 Awards". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  18. ↑
  19. ↑ "Awards Wrap". August 2, 2022. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Durban International Film Festival". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Excellence in Documentary". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Length Documentary". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  23. ↑ "11th Canadian Screen Awards". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  24. ↑ "Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  25. ↑ Sevunts, Levon (May 3, 2022). "'I'm very interested in telling stories of people who are marginalised': Q&A with Noura Kevorkian". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  26. ↑ Tarbush, Susannah (November 24, 2008). "Panties from the "Axis of Evil"". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  27. ↑ Glassman, Marc (May 4, 2022). "Batata Review: An Extraordinary Work Ten Years in the Making". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  28. ↑ De Boer, Tara (September 21, 2023). "'Time flies by if you don't follow your dreams,' Meet Toronto's Noura Kevorkian, a Peabody Award-winning documentarian". Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  29. ↑ "The Taste of Longing: Ethel Mulvany and Her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook". Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  30. ↑ "Suzanne Evans Writer & Historian". Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  31. ↑ Laing, Sarah (September 7, 2023). "Meet the 2023 Power List of Canadian Women in Film". Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  32. ↑ "Saaren Films". Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  33. ↑ "DOC Institute Awards". Retrieved December 12, 2023.
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