Grandma's Tattoos

The Armenian Suzanne Khardalian grew up with her sisters in Beirut, Lebanon. Her grandmother Khanoum lived upstairs from them. The filmmaker remembers that her grandmother had frightening blue tattoos on her hands and face, and never was one to dispense hugs or compliments. In the voice-over, she explains that "We all felt ill with her suffocating presence." No one knew how Grandma had gotten to be this way, and the past was never discussed. Years later, Khardalian immigrated to Sweden and made various documentaries about the genocide in Armenia. During World War I, Armenians were driven out of their country and into the deserts of Syria and Iraq. Many were murdered, and women and children were kidnapped and put to work as concubines for Turks, Kurds and Arabs. While doing her research, Khardalian found old photographs of Armenian women with the same tattoos her grandmother had. The shock was enormous: was Grandma one of the unfortunate ones? In this extremely personal film, the director sets out to tell Khanoum's as yet untold life story. It brings her to Beirut, the United States, and deserts that are now known to be mass graves. Inevitably, her journey into her family history opens old wounds.