HOLLYWOOD, JANUARY 14, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. On December 31st, 2009 in Hollywood, Armenian film director Mikhail Vartanov passed away at age 72. Vartanov was born on February 21st, 1937 in Grozny. From a young age, Vartanov worked as a photographer and a movie projectionist, then graduated Moscow's prestige film institute, VGIK, in 1965 and came to Armenia for the first time. He began his work in cinema with his documentary film, "The Color of Armenian Land", in which he presented the ancient and modern art and history of Armenia. His next film, "Autumn Pastoral", based on Artavazd Peleshian's screenplay. Vardanov's last work in Armenia was a trilogy of documentary films, "Erased Faces", "Minas: A Requiem", and his influential masterpiece "Parajanov: The Last Spring", which earned many awards. According to Groong, M.Vardanov's service will be held on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 11:00am at the Saint John Armenian Apostolic Church.

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