The film's director, Boris Airapetyan, said the opera-film genre, highly popular in Europe these days, had almost sunk into oblivion in Russia and that the most recent Russian production made in this genre dated back to 1984.
Airapetyan said quite a few film distributors in the West had already asked him for permission to screen the picture. He said that this autumn, it would be simultaneously shown at open-air movie theaters in five European cities (Salzburg, Vienna, Geneva, Stuttgart, and Berlin). In Russia, however, the interest has been quite low. Airapetyan said most of the national television broadcasters had expressed doubt the film would fit in with their formats and only executives of the arts channel Kultura had signaled they were willing to run it.
"Norma," which premiered in Milan in 1831, is believed to be one of the most challenging operas. Out of its twenty stage productions, only four were a success.
"But I decided to take the risk; I sought to find a clue to the mystery behind this opera, benefiting from the brilliant vocalists I had at my disposal, especially for the lead parts," the director said. "Asmik Papyan, a soloist with the Vienna Opera and [New York's] Metropolitan, sings the part of Norma, and Gegam Grigoryan, a soloist of St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater [also known in the West as the Kirov], sings Pollion."
In 2002, Airapetyan staged "Norma" for Armenia's National Opera in the capital of Yerevan. This production was shown at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater in 2003 and nominated for the national Golden Mask award in five categories.
The screen version, too, was made in Airapetyan's native country, Armenia. Much of it was filmed in a temple erected by ancient Romans to celebrate their conquest of Armenian lands.
