‘1915’: The first film of the centennial
The film takes place within a single day, and its press release summarizes its plot thus: “In 2015, exactly 100 years after the Armenian Genocide, a theatre director named Simon is staging a play at Los Angeles Theatre to honor the victims of that tragedy – a horrifying crime forgotten and denied for an entire century. But as protesters surround his theatre, and a series of mysterious accidents spread panic among his actors, we realize that Simon’s mission is more controversial than we think – and the ghosts of the past are everywhere.”
Garin Hovannisian, who co-wrote and co-produced ‘1915’ with Alec Mouhibian, also has a book of short stories titled ‘Family of Shadows’ and his articles and short stories have been published in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. As for Alec Mouhibian, in addition to writing for Slate and The Weekly Standard, he also recently starred in the docudrama ‘Heal America’. The duo founded Bloodvine Media, the production company of ‘1915’ and say the following regarding their first feature film: “Our movie takes place one hundred years after 1915, on the other side of the world. It is about denial: what happens when the past is ignored; what happens when it is confronted. With the centennial of the Armenian Genocide upon us, we are ready to face the past together.” The film is now preparing to make its voice heard on social media with the hashtag #EndYourDenial and adds that it aims to shed light not only on the Armenian Genocide, but all the genocides of the previous century.
Soundtrack by Tankian
In the film, Simon Abkarian, an Armenian actor from France, plays the Simon character. We most recently saw Abkarian in Fatih Akın’s ‘The Cut’, and Abkarian’s other roles include the 2006 James Bond film ‘Casino Royale’ and Atom Egoyan’s ‘Ararat’. The films other actors include the Yerevan-born Angela Sarafyan of ‘Twilight’ fame and Sam Page, who stars in the Golden Globe-winning series ‘House of Cards’.
Serj Tankian, Grammy-Award winning musician and the vocalist of System of a Down, composed the soundtrack of ‘1915’. Commenting on the film, Tankian said, “This film has elements of trauma, ambiguity and magic,” and added that he had created a musical score reflecting the spirit of the film.
