AUA Adjunct Lecturer Garine Torossian Featured in ‘Moments of Perception’

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YEREVAN, Armenia — The American University of Armenia (AUA) is pleased to share that AUA Adjunct Lecturer and Canadian-Armenian filmmaker and visual artist Garine Torossian’s works have been featured in Moments of Perception, a landmark book that maps experimental film production across Canada from the 1950s to the present day. 

Offering a fresh perspective on the ever-evolving history of Canada’s experimental film and moving image media arts, the book features an essay by Michael Zryd, associate professor of Cinema & Media Arts at York University, and profiles of key filmmakers by film historian Stephen Broomer and editors Jim Shedden and Barbara Sternberg. “The essay by Stephen Broomer about my work reflects on how I explore the relationship between memory, fragmentation and diasporic identity in my films,” says Torossian. “I am truly honored to be part of Canadian film history. It has been a rich and thrilling journey,” she notes.

Torossian’s filmography includes twenty-two films. “Formally freewheeling and merging the visual languages of Super 8, 35mm, and video, her body of work is one of the most startling and original to have emerged in Canada,” says Tom McSorley, Executive Director of the Canadian Film Institute.

The recipient of many awards, including best documentary at the Warsaw international film festival and best short at the Berlinale, Torossian teaches filmmaking at AUA’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS). Retrospectives of her work have been shown at the MoMa, Centre Pompidou, Film Forum, and the Berlinale. Her work has been broadcast on Arte France, CBC, and the Sundance Channel. Torossian is also a recipient of a DAAD (Berliner Künstlerprogramm) filmmaker fellowship in Berlin.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.