Jan Leyers (centre) interviews a monk in Ejmiadzin. [Gohar Martirosyan]

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You can't skip religion in Armenia

By Gohar Martirosyan for Hye-Profile in Yerevan -- 30/09/09

A Belgian TV crew shared its impressions after a sentimental journey through Armenia.

A popular Belgian musician travelled to Armenia to retrace his ancestors' footsteps.

After finding out about his ancestors from a DNA test, Belgian musical star Jan Leyers, 51, travelled across nearly half the Eurasian landmass to repeat his forefathers' journey.

Joined by a crew from the Belgian production firm Telesaurus, Leyers visited Armenia September 9th through 13th to shoot a documentary. VRT, the TV network for the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium, will air the film in 2011.

The hardy crew started in Ethiopia, crossing through the Middle East and the Caucasus before returning to Western Europe.

The Leyers documentary is part of a TV series that seeks to demonstrate how certain cultures have originated and how their members try to preserve their heritage.

"The main goal of my journey is to look out for the history of evolution at work, [to find out] where history is being written today," Leyers said.

The Belgians visited sites with rich meaning for Armenians: the Genocide Museum in Yerevan; Gyumri, which a 1988 earthquake flattened; and Ejmiadzin, seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

They also had several meetings with diaspora members, historians and other Armenians.

Jan Leyers [blue shirt, on left] interviews Hayk Demoyan, director of the Genocide Museum. [Gohar Martirosyan]

"I can see that this country is in a very important stage of its evolution," Leyers said. "It's a big challenge for Armenia to take that monumental past with many tragedies and yet focus on a new and fresh future."

The Telesaurus crew is always looking for stories unique to a single country, said Johannes Bucher, 51, the series' director.

One such story in Armenia is the striking homogeneity, said Bucher, noting that other countries in the Caucasus have more mixed populations.

"We will start our documentary with Ejmiadzin," Bucher said. "You cannot skip religion because we think that it's in the Armenian soul and is part of the national identity."

The TV crew visited Gyumri, the country's second-largest city. An earthquake toppled the building in the picture in 1988. [Gohar Martirosyan]

Caroline Geerts, 35, helped choose the filming locations in Armenia.

She described her role in the project with a smile as "doing everything that is not being done by the rest".

"I carry the tapes, I carry the money and I find the people and the situations we can film," Geerts said.

Geerts was scouting locations in Armenia about a month before the rest of the crew came and found the hospitality impressive.

"What I found especially remarkable is that all those whom I met for the first time considered me their friend when I came back," she said.

The other Belgians shared their impressions of the Caucasus country.

Cameraman Gery Hoebanx's eye has picked out the beauty of the capital and of the local women.

"The city of Yerevan looks happy," said Hoebanx, 41. The buildings are very nice, with nice architecture. And I must say, you've got gorgeous, beautiful women."

Miguel Van Acker, 42, the sound engineer, said he generally pays attention to the atmosphere, to how locals react to being filmed.

"People [here] are friendly, they are not too shy, and they are not rude when you try to film them, so that's a nice environment to work in. It's much different from other Eastern or Middle Eastern countries where there's a spontaneous hostility towards [outsiders]," he said.