Chantal Partamian
2021Across my work, celluloid, memory, obsolescence and political imaginaries merge to reflect on erasure, denial, repetition and blur. I explore themes of justice, migration, identity, gender and conflict through the combination of a variety of practices.
My work includes Chere N. Audience and Jury award winner at the Dresdner Schmalfimtage 2007. Tekrar, presented at Les Instants Vidéo, Marseilles. Epistemic Space, in collaboration with the Armenian-Turkish cinema platform of the Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival. Houbout a poetic essay, that very briefly explores fragments of a long distance relationship, Sandjak an exercise in the dismantlement of the Sandjak refugee camp space in Beirut. The haunting of the present by absences. The fragmentation of history and memory.
I am Currently in the development phase of my next film "Odar" which also deals with fragmentation through the material condition of celluloid, a project funded by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec and the Canada council for the arts.
I have also collaborated on many different length projects as Director of photography and/or Senior Editor and have worked as a producer, a trainer in Guerrilla film making, social media and film as well as film critique. In April 2020, I started an online project of obsolete collections and temporal assemblages in an instagram profile and blog inspired by vinegar (@Katsakh) syndrome, the chemical degradation that occurs with cellulous acetate film.
Katsakh: The People Want the Fall of the Regime
Chantal Partamian
A capsule from Chantal Partamian’s "Katsakh" project, experiments on and with film originally published on Instagram. “Katsakh” means vinegar in Armenian, in reference to the vinegar syndrome, “the chemical degradation that occurs with cellulous acetate film”.
Katsakh: The People Want the Fall of the Regime
Landing
Chantal Partamian
Set to the black and white footage of a journey, Chantal Partamian's "Landing "is a short poem about lovers in transit. With longing and patience in equal measure, the film shows fragments of a long-distance relationship, and what it’s like to be queer and exist between states.
Houbout / Landing
Katsakh: On the Day I Left
Chantal Partamian
A capsule from Chantal Partamian’s "Katsakh" project, experiments on and with film originally published on Instagram. “Katsakh” means vinegar in Armenian, in reference to the vinegar syndrome, “the chemical degradation that occurs with cellulous acetate film”.
Katsakh: On the Day I Left
Katsakh: The Eternal Flame
Chantal Partamian
A capsule from Chantal Partamian’s "Katsakh" project, experiments on and with film originally published on Instagram. “Katsakh” means vinegar in Armenian, in reference to the vinegar syndrome, “the chemical degradation that occurs with cellulous acetate film”.
Katsakh: The Eternal Flame
Katsakh: Obsolete Frames
Chantal Partamian
A capsule from Chantal Partamian’s "Katsakh" project, experiments on and with film originally published on Instagram. “Katsakh” means vinegar in Armenian, in reference to the vinegar syndrome, “the chemical degradation that occurs with cellulous acetate film”.
Katsakh: Obsolete Frames
Katsakh: Quantum Superposition and States
Chantal Partamian
11:07 am Montreal / 6:07 pm Beirut - 11h07 Montréal / 18h07 Beyrouth: As part of a series of experiments on celluloid, this capsule was made to mark the exact time of the catastrophe and its echo throughout continents and time differences A capsule from Chantal Partamian’s "Katsakh" project, experiments on and with film originally published on Instagram. “Katsakh” means vinegar in Armenian, in reference to the vinegar syndrome, “the chemical degradation that occurs with cellulous acetate film”.
Katsakh: 1107 - Quantum Superposition and States
Katsakh: 1km to Palestine
Chantal Partamian
A capsule from Chantal Partamian’s "Katsakh" project, experiments on and with film originally published on Instagram. “Katsakh” means vinegar in Armenian, in reference to the vinegar syndrome, “the chemical degradation that occurs with cellulous acetate film”.
Katsakh: 1km to Palestine
