Film catches life

Glendale resident Sevak Ohanian recreates the problems of growing up in an Armenian American family in his new film “My Big Fat Armenian Family” but adds a twist of humor.

The film, which will premiere July 12 and 18 at Glendale High School, tells the story of a family of four — a father, mother, son and daughter. The son can’t seem to do anything right in his father’s eyes, and there is a constant air of friction between them.

The parents, Robert and Rima, are played by one man, Ajmin Baghramian, Ohanian said.

“I decided to have Ajmin play both characters because he is just a phenomenal actor and good at performing caricatures of Armenian people,” the 21-year-old filmmaker said. “Having a male actor masquerading as a female is innately funny. It goes back to the Greek comedies where men played females.”

The scenario, Ohanian said, also posed a challenge for him as the film’s writer, director, cameraman and editor.

“I wanted .?.?.?to see if I could achieve this effect of two different characters being played by the same actor,” he said. “And I think, if you watch the movie, you will come to identify each of them as their own person.”

Ohanian is studying film at UC San Diego and received some feedback from his independent study teacher, Michael Trigilio, a lecturer at the university.

While there are some amateur qualities to the project because of time constraints to work on the film, Ohanian has done remarkably well with such a complex production, Trigilio said.

“It’s very complicated to have one actor playing the male and female leads,” he said. “In the editing of the scenes with the two characters, Ohanian was able to make the editing look seamless.”

But what most impressed Trigilio was how well Ohanian crafted the story so it wasn’t just about a farcical family, he said.

“There is an emotional touchstone in the family dynamics and the way it deals with the first- and second-generation immigrant families,” Trigilio said. “I’m Italian American, and in our own culture there are generational conflicts. It’s interesting to see how Sevak exposes a lot of the jokes that are part the Armenian community but without belittling the Armenian community.”

For this project, Ohanian said he wanted to combine comedy and drama while instilling a message in the film. What evolved was a social commentary on how Armenian American families behave, he said.

“We reflect how parents act with their children and how children view their parents,” he said.

While it’s not autobiographical, Ohanian asked his sister, Ramela Ohanian, 18, to play the sister in the film, he said.

“My sister is playing herself, not literally, because it’s not autobiographical,” he said. “It’s just about my culture and my generation.”

Ramela Ohanian has no plans for an acting a career, but said participating was fun.

And she is proud of her brother’s project, having written the script, shot, directed and edited it, she said.

“Who can say their brother has done all that,” she said. “It’s something to look up to.”

Sevak Ohanian will enter a three-year program at USC School of Cinema in August and try to make filmmaking a career, he said. But for now he’s looking forward to the public premiere in July, he said.

“I think afterward I’ll sleep for a week,” he said.

“This movie is the most challenging but rewarding thing I’ve ever committed to.”