Grandma's Tattoos, evil destinies behind unspoken truths

Suzanne Khardalian, an independent Swedish-Armenian film maker and director, has produced a film featuring the story of Genocide survivors.

Grandma’s Tattoos is a personal film about what happened to many Armenians in 1915. Khardalian, who is the author and film-maker, makes a personal journey into her own family to investigate the truth behind her late grandmother, Khanoum.

The film is like a ghost story, mystery or taboo, with no one willing to tell the truth.

It tells the story of the grandmother’s sister, 98 years old Lucia, who today is living in Hollywood. Lucia who has odd tattoos is willing to tell part of the story; how she tried to escape together with her sister and mother during the Armenian Genocide in 1915, instead they ended up living with a Kurdish tribe for several years.

Another hero appearing in the film is Aunt Marie, grandma’s only still living child in Beirut. She did not know the story either as it was a taboo to talk about what was considered the “unspeakable”. Aunt Marie too has the same unpleasant memories of
Grandma who avoided all physical contact. She did not like to be touched or to touch.

She was never close to anyone, not even to her own husband.

Suzanne Khardalian is an independent filmmaker and writer. She studied journalism in Beirut and Paris and worked as a journalist in Paris until 1988 when she started to work with films. She holds a Masters Degree in International Law and Diplomacy from Fletcher School at Tuft's University and contributes with articles to different journals. She had directed a dozen films that have been shown both in Europé and the USA.