1915 (film)

Last updated
1915
1915 (film) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Garin Hovannisian
  • Alec Mouhibian
Produced by
  • Garin Hovannisian
  • Alec Mouhibian
  • Terry Leonard
Starring
CinematographyLeigh Lisbão Underwood
Edited by
  • Paul Forte
  • Dan Dobi
Music by Serj Tankian
Production
companies
  • Bloodvine Media
  • Strongman
Distributed byBloodvine Media
Release date
  • April 17, 2015 (2015-04-17)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$111,682 [1]

1915 is a 2015 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Garin Hovannisian and Alec Mouhibian. The film stars Simon Abkarian, Angela Sarafyan, Nikolai Kinski, Debra Christofferson, Jim Piddock, and Samuel Page. It follows a mysterious director staging a play to bring the ghosts of a forgotten tragedy back to life on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. [2] [3]

Contents

The film was released in theaters on April 17, 2015, and through video on demand on April 22, 2015. [4] [5]

Plot

Exactly 100 years after the Armenian genocide committed within the Ottoman Empire, a director (Simon Abkarian) is staging a play at the historic Los Angeles Theatre to honor the victims of the massacre. The play stars his enigmatic wife (Angela Sarafyan) as an Armenian woman in 1915 who must make a tragic and controversial decision that will change the course of history. This will not be an ordinary performance. As protesters surround the theater before showtime, and a series of strange accidents spread panic among its actors (Sam Page, Nikolai Kinski) and producer (Jim Piddock), it appears that Simon's mission is far more dangerous than we think—and the ghosts of the past are everywhere. [6]

Cast

Themes

The film explores many themes, especially that of denial—referring not only to the 100-year denial [7] of the Armenian Genocide by the Republic of Turkey, but also the many forms of individual denial among the characters in the story.

Critic Martin Tsai, in his Los Angeles Times review, identified 1915 as contemplating "personal tragedy versus collective grief, artistic license versus historical responsibility, revisionist history versus corrective narrative, forgetting versus moving on," and praised the film as "one creative way to do justice to such a monumental topic." [8]

In an interview, co-writer/director Alec Mouhibian said, "How can the past have such power over us in the present, and what are the secret ways in which we deal with it? The target of 1915 is you, the viewer, whoever you are, whatever your background. Everyone who steps into the mystery will experience it in one's own way. We hope you come out of it with a richer connection to your past -- a new way of feeling history." [9]

Production

1915 is the first feature film by Garin Hovannisian and Alec Mouhibian. Hovannisian is the author of Family of Shadows [10] and has written for the Los Angeles Times , The New York Times , and other publications. Mouhibian is a writer and comedian whose work has appeared in Slate , The Weekly Standard , and a variety of other publications. He has also been a Media Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.[ citation needed ]

Hovannisian and Mouhibian have been collaborating on film and literary projects for more than ten years. [11]

The film was produced by Bloodvine Media, in conjunction with Strongman and mTuckman Media. [12]

Location

Filming took place almost entirely on location at the historic Los Angeles Theatre, in downtown LA. Long believed to be haunted, the theater is its own character in the story, and the deleted scenes include references to one of its founders, Charlie Chaplin.

Music

The original score of the film was composed by System of a Down's lead singer, Serj Tankian. It is his first film score. [13]

Release

The theatrical release of 1915 in the United States took place on April 17, 2015, with the film's premiere taking place on April 13 at the Egyptian Theatre in conjunction with the American Cinematheque. It released widely in Russia on April 23, 2015, and in Armenia on April 25, 2015. Its first international preview was at the Maxim Gorky Theatre in Berlin, Germany on April 5, 2015. It released in Australia in June, 2015.

On May 26, 2016, the film was released in the UK. [14] On June 4 it was released in France.

In 2015 it was featured selection in the Golden Apricot International Film Festival, Romanian International Film Festival, and Lake Van International Film Festival in Turkey, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It was also awarded "Best Film" by the World Entertainment Armenian Awards.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Ararat</i> (film) 2002 Canadian film

Ararat is a 2002 historical-drama film written and directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Charles Aznavour, Christopher Plummer, David Alpay, Arsinée Khanjian, Eric Bogosian, Bruce Greenwood, and Elias Koteas. It is about a family and film crew in Toronto working on a film based loosely on the 1915 defense of Van during the Armenian genocide. In addition to exploring the human impact of that specific historical event, Ararat examines the nature of truth and its representation through art. The genocide is denied by the Government of Turkey, an issue that partially inspired and is explored in the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Abkarian</span> French-Armenian actor

Simon Abkarian is a French-Armenian actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian genocide denial</span> Fringe theory that the Armenian genocide did not occur

Armenian genocide denial is the negationist claim that the Ottoman Empire and its ruling party, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), did not commit genocide against its Armenian citizens during World War I—a crime documented in a large body of evidence and affirmed by the vast majority of scholars. The perpetrators denied the genocide as they carried it out, claiming that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were resettled for military reasons, not exterminated. In its aftermath, incriminating documents were systematically destroyed. Denial has been the policy of every government of the Ottoman Empire's successor state, the Republic of Turkey, as of 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montebello Genocide Memorial</span> Monument in Montebello, California, USA

The Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument, better known as Montebello Genocide Memorial, is a monument in Montebello, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide of 1915. The monument, opened in April 1968, is a tower of eight arches supported on 75-foot-tall (23 m) white concrete columns. The memorial was designed by Hrant Agbabian. It is the oldest and largest memorial in the United States dedicated to the Armenian Genocide victims. The inscription on the memorial plaque reads:

Armenian Martyrs Memorial Monument: This Monument erected by Americans of Armenian descent, is dedicated to the 1,500,000 Armenian victims of the Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish Government, 1915–1921, and to men of all nations who have fallen victim to crimes against humanity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Sarafyan</span> Armenian-American actress

Angela Sarafyan, sometimes credited as Angela Sarafian, is an Armenian-American actress. She has appeared as a guest star in several television series and has acted in the feature films: Kabluey (2007), On the Doll (2007), A Beautiful Life (2008), The Informers (2008), A Good Old Fashioned Orgy (2011), Lost & Found in Armenia (2012), and Reminiscence (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard G. Hovannisian</span> American historian (1932–2023)

Richard Gable Hovannisian was an American historian and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is known mainly for his four-volume history of the First Republic of Armenia, and for his advocacy of Armenian Genocide recognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian genocide recognition</span> Governments recognition of the Ottoman empires mass killing of Armenians as genocide

Armenian genocide recognition is the formal acceptance of the fact that the Ottoman Empire's systematic massacres and forced deportation of Armenians from 1915 to 1923, both during and after the First World War, constituted genocide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raffi Hovannisian</span> Armenian politician (born 1959)

Raffi K. Richardi Hovannisian is an Armenian politician, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia and the founding leader of the national liberal Heritage party. He is the founder of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, the country's first independent research center.

Heath Ward Lowry is the Atatürk Professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies emeritus at Princeton University and Bahçeşehir University. He is an author of books about the history of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey.

Armenian genocide in culture includes the ways in which people have represented the Armenian genocide of 1915 in art, literature, music, and films. Furthermore, there are dozens of Armenian genocide memorials around the world. According to historian Margaret Lavinia Anderson, the Armenian genocide had reached an "iconic status" as "the apex of horrors conceivable" prior to World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garin Hovannisian</span> Armenian writer and filmmaker (born 1986)

Garin K. Hovannisian is an Armenian American writer, filmmaker, and producer. He is the director of the award-winning films 1915 (2015), I Am Not Alone (2019), and Truth to Power (2020), and the author of the book Family of Shadows: A century of murder, memory, and the Armenian American dream. He is also the founder of the arts foundation Creative Armenia.

<i>The Water Diviner</i> 2014 film by Russell Crowe

The Water Diviner is a 2014 drama film starring and directed by Russell Crowe, in his directorial debut, and written by Andrew Anastasios and Andrew Knight. The film follows an Australian farmer, Joshua Connor (Crowe), who travels to Turkey soon after World War I to find his three sons who never returned. It also stars Olga Kurylenko, Jai Courtney, Cem Yılmaz, Yılmaz Erdoğan, and Jacqueline McKenzie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witnesses and testimonies of the Armenian genocide</span> Overview of testimonies and the witnesses of the Armenian genocide

Witnesses and testimony provide an important and valuable insight into the events which occurred both during and after the Armenian genocide. The Armenian genocide was prepared and carried out by the Ottoman government in 1915 as well as in the following years. As a result of the genocide, as many as 1.5 million Armenians who were living in their ancestral homeland were deported and murdered.

The Blue Book, Political Truth or Historical Fact is a 2009 documentary film by Gagik Karagheuzian about the Armenian genocide denial.

<i>The Promise</i> (2016 film) 2016 historical drama film by Terry George

The Promise is a 2016 American epic historical war drama film directed by Terry George, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Robin Swicord. Set in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, the film stars Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon and Christian Bale. The plot is about a love triangle that develops between Mikael (Isaac), an Armenian medical student, Chris (Bale), an American journalist, and Ana, an Armenian-born woman raised in France, immediately before and during the Armenian genocide.

<i>The Ottoman Lieutenant</i> 2017 American film

The Ottoman Lieutenant is a Turkish-American romantic war drama film directed by Joseph Ruben and written by Jeff Stockwell. The film stars Michiel Huisman, Hera Hilmar, Josh Hartnett and Ben Kingsley. The film was released widely on March 10, 2017.

Bibliography of the Armenian genocide is a list of books about the Armenian genocide:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian genocide and the Holocaust</span> Comparison of genocides

The relationship between the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust has been discussed by scholars. Although there is some disagreement, the majority of scholars believe that there is a direct causal relationship between the two genocides.

The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide was the first major conference in the field of genocide studies, held in Tel Aviv on 20–24 June 1982. It was organized by Israel Charny, Elie Wiesel, Shamai Davidson, and their Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, founded in 1979. The conference's objective was to further the understanding and prevention of all genocides; it marked the shift from viewing genocide as an irrational phenomenon to one that could be studied and understood.

References

  1. ↑ "1915 (2015)". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  2. ↑ Kieser, Hans-Lukas; Schaller, Dominik J. (2002), Der Völkermord an den Armeniern und die Shoah[The Armenian genocide and the Shoah] (in German), Chronos, p. 114, ISBN   3-0340-0561-X
  3. ↑ Bryce, Viscount James; Toynbee, Arnold (2000), Sarafian, Ara (ed.), The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915–1916: Documents Presented to Viscount Grey of Falloden (uncensored ed.), Princeton, NJ: Gomidas Institute, pp. 635–49, ISBN   0-9535191-5-5
  4. ↑ "'1915' Movie Trailer Released, Opening Dates Announced". Armenian Weekly . March 18, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Worldwide Release April 17: Film "1915" To Shed Light on Forgotten Armenian Genocide". Hetq Online . March 19, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  6. ↑ Robbins, Caryn. "Thriller '1915' to HIt Theaters & VOD This April". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  7. ↑ "Turkish denial of the Armenian Genocide". Archived from the original on 2009-10-17.
  8. ↑ "'1915' a creative take on Armenian genocide". latimes.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  9. ↑ "A New Film Takes on the Armenian Genocide - The Jewish Voice". thejewishvoice.com. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  10. ↑ Hovannisian, Garin (2011), The Family of Shadows, Harper Collins Publishers
  11. ↑ Media, Bloodvine. "1915 The Movie – A film commemorating the Armenian genocide". 1915themovie.com. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  12. ↑ "Film "1915" To Shed Light on Forgotten Genocide of 1.5 Million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey".
  13. ↑ "'1915': The first film of the centennial".
  14. ↑ "1915 The Movie – UK Premier Screening + Q&A". Eventbrite. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.