SYDNEY: The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) has partnered with Sydney-based filmmaker, Shahane Bekarian to produce the first Australian-made documentary on the Armenian Genocide. Today, ANC Australia launched a crowdfunding campaign with Kickstarter to help raise funds for this project.

The film, titled CHILDREN OF THE GENOCIDE, is drawing on archival footage of interviews with Australia-based survivors of the Armenian Genocide, who are now no longer alive. It also features interviews with their descendants, currently living in Australia.

CHILDREN OF THE GENOCIDE is described as "an examination of the sentiment of Armenians in Australia 100 years after the genocide which saw them flee their motherland after World War One. The issue to be explored relates to the surviving Armenians who found refuge in Australia. Although they fled to survive, we explore wether relocation is enough to settle the attempt of genocide and the upheaval from their homeland. After their families were brutally killed and their livelihood destroyed, was surviving enough? What basic human needs remained unsettled? Perhaps the success in maintaining their hereditary can only be measured by the strength of their new roots in Australia, the stability of life they have laid out for their kids and the separation they have made from racial intolerance. Is Australia the place? Have they gone down the path of cultural assimilation or integration in Australian society?"

ANC Australia is seeking to raise $20,000 to help fund the production of this film, which is set for a release in 2015, on the Centenary year of the Armenian Genocide.

They have set up a Kickstarter campaign where one can easily pledge to donate. CLICK HERE TO SEE AND DONATE.

"This is the first such film produced in our community, and through this grassroots fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, members of our community can be part of this historic project," said ANC Australia Community Relations Director, Stephen Abolakian.



MORE ABOUT THE FILM

“CHILDREN OF THE GENOCIDE” (working title)

20-minute documentary by Shahane Bekarian

OUTLINE: The Armenian diaspora are a direct result of the Ottoman Turkish attempt at genocide during World War One. The survivors spread across the globe, fragmented yet unified in the collective memory of the devastation from which they fled. In their new homes, their descendants live in the shadow of those unspeakable experiences, most survivors pass on their memories, while others choose never to speak of the horrors again. All survivors and their descendants choose to either assimilate or integrate into the local culture of their new home. To justify their ancestors’ struggle, the descendants today embark on a free and happy life, all the while, ensuring the flame of their identity never burns out.

The film is an examination of the sentiment of Armenians in Australia 100 years after the genocide which saw them flee their motherland after World War One. The issue to be explored relates to the surviving Armenians who found refuge in Australia. Although they fled to survive, we explore wether relocation is enough to settle the attempt of genocide and the upheaval from their homeland. After their families were brutally killed and their livelihood destroyed, was surviving enough? What basic human needs remained unsettled? Perhaps the success in maintaining their hereditary can only be measured by the strength of their new roots in Australia, the stability of life they have laid out for their kids and the separation they have made from racial intolerance. Is Australia the place? Have they gone down the path of cultural assimilation or integration in Australian society?

By examining the survivor interviews of the 1980’s we lay out the basic legacies they wished to see passed on. New interviews will be filmed of the survivors’ direct descendants. They will be asked to reflect on wether this has been achieved in their lives and wether they can see this perpetuated in their children. This will provide an intergenerational context for the survivors at large.

TREATMENT: As a survivor descendant, the filmmaker Shahane Bekarian will introduce the story and ask the question wether cultural local assimilation vs integration has any relevance to conveying freedom from Turkish oppression. His parents, provide a brief reflection to set the tone of the film.

Immediately we are taken back to the 1980’s interviews. A series of intercut interviews will provide the landscape of those unimaginable times of their childhood traumas. We focus on a more poignant one and learn more about that survivor. Subtitles will be needed, but soon enough we see the survivors direct descendants, the youngest in the family, quoting the word in English as a direct translation and transferring us into modern Australia with newly acquired footage. We see the kids going about their childhood play in the park or whatever their favourite hobbies are. This will provide and intergenerational connection and provide perspective of the survivors legacy. Archival WW1 footage, maps and diagrams will bounce us back to those distant times. New footage of the grandchildren holding up their grandparents’ old belongings will bridge that gap. A selection of about 3 survivors will provide their story in depth while a further 7 or so will reinforce this with shorter snippets.

Simple reconstructions will be filmed of the children miming out the story of their grandfather for dramatic effect. This will be mixed with footage of Armenian youth at cultural events (like the Armenian Festival). The intent is to portray the sentiment of the survivors in an emotive portrait (rather than academic) of Armenians in Australia in 2015.