Filmmaker Roger Kupelian

YEREVAN (ArmRadio)—Los Angeles-based filmmaker Roger Kupelian confirmed Friday that he has been holding meetings with Mel Gibson and representatives of President Serzh Sarkisian to realize a film project, about which the president made an announcement earlier this month.

Fugitive Studios Entertainment Armenia confirmed that the discussion have centered around producing Kupelian’s East of Byzantium, a pet project, on which the filmmaker has been working for several years.

Reportedly, the meetings between Kupelian and Gibson first took place in May, 2011 in Moscow. The two have been meeting intermittently until as early as last month. Fugitive Studios said that the most recent Kupelian-Gibson meeting “was promising yet preliminary.” Negotiations with prospective producers of the project are also being pursued, with the goal of reaching a solid conclusion before the end of this year.

Kupelian’s East of Byzantium chronicles the history of Armenians from the adoption of Christianity as its state religion in 301 AD to the Battle of Avarayr in 451 AD

East of Byzantium was conceived in New Zealand in 2002, when Kupelian was working on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The script made the rounds in Hollywood and released a trailer. Recently, the first graphic novel inspired by East of Byzantium, War Gods, was successfully released and is currently being translated into Spanish.

“Armenian culture needs to embrace warrior-code based identity over one that focuses on its victimization, and this project that I have personally financed over the course of ten years has been shaped by that ideal,” said Kupelian.

Still-shot of a scene from East of Byzantium (photo from official Web site)

Established in 2006, Fugitive Studios Entertainment was created by Roger Kupelian and his partners as a way to bring East of Byzantium and similar independent projects to quality widespread release, in a variety of media. Having honed its expertise by also producing quality visual effects and development work for mainstream entertainment, as well as a series of music videos for System of A Down’s frontman, Serj Tankian, Fugitive Studios Entertainment is now focusing on bringing the series of Kupelian’s graphic novels to a wider audience.