Master Eddy

Dérives

Master Eddy
USA, 2021, 113’
in English/ Armenian` w/ Eng./ Arm. subtitles

Director, Scriptwriter and Cinematographer: Ara Madzounian
Producer: Ara Madzounian
Editor: Ara Madzounian
Sound: Ara Madzounian
Production Company: Argus Pictures
Eddy Yacoubian – an immigrant from Lebanon – has been mending shoes since the tender age of nine. “If Eddy can’t fix it, no one can”, his patrons affirm. In the age of digital automation, Eddy’s artistry and humanity are a reminder of global cultural change. He accepts his reality with a certain discontent but also admits that luck has been a force majeure. Shot cinema verité, Master Eddy with deep existential simplicity, hammers away his story one nail at a time, keeping a pragmatic philosophy of life, much like his hands do.

Ara Madzounian

Independent producer, director, and cinematographer born in Lebanon and based in Los Angeles with various projects to his credits in fiction, documentary, educational videos, and television commercials. He holds a BA and MFA in Film & Television from UCLA.

Ara’s works range from shorts to features. The Pink Elephant, his first film, won the Panavision award and has been screened in various international film festivals and television venues. For eight years, he has produced Armenia Fund Telethon, a live global telecast. He has produced and directed projects for Czech Television and for Monterey Institute for International Studies. He has also produced educational videos for Los Angeles County Refugee Project. He made his screen acting debut in Radio Inside, featured on Showtime. His cinematography experience includes several films. His latest feature cinematography works are Berserkers released in 2014 and Final Cutz in 2017.

Ara has also been active in the LA theater community as an actor, taking the stage in Baron Garbis, Two Hundred, Quicksand, and The Pink Elephant.

For several years, Ara lectured on Armenian cinema at the ARS Summer Studies Program at Amherst and Bradford colleges. He has produced and directed over thirty television commercials and corporate films. Ara has produced media content for the Smithsonian Institution’s My Armenia program that harnesses the power of storytelling to strengthen cultural heritage sustainability. In 2017, he self-published Birds Nest: A Photographic Essay of Bourj Hammoud.

Filmography

The Pink Elephant (1988, short fiction), Land Without Graves (1992, feature documentary), Pagakidz (1996, feature documentary), The Remnants (2015, short documentary), Tales from The Hood (2020, interview series), Master Eddy (2021, feature documentary).