WATERTOWN–More than 75 community members gathered at the Arsenal Center for the Arts Monday, January 8, to hear director Carla Garapedian discuss her new film, Screamers, the gripping documentary about the multi-platinum, Grammy-award winning band System Of A Down’s campaign to end the cycle of genocide. The film will open in theaters in Boston on January 26. The event organized by Maya Releasing and the Armenian National Committee featured a video presentation of excerpts from the film and presented the community with the opportunity to meet with Garapedian. The gathering also was aimed to garner community support for the film’s release. "Screamers is about exposing the denial of all genocide, Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, the Iraqi Kurds and the current horror in Darfur," said Garapedian. "It is about making sure the same critical message George Clooney and Don Cheadle are ‘screaming’ about is heard, that these atrocities ‘never happen again.’ And I believe, it is this generation, the ‘screamers,’ who will make sure all genocide is recognized and ends, because ‘screamers’ will no longer tolerate or accept previous generations of politicians and humanitarians who have so miserably failed them." Garapedian explained that she got the term Screamers from Harvard Professor Samantha Power, the virtual narrator in the film, who in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Problem From Hell: America in the Age of Genocide., argues that in each case of genocide, whether it is the Armenian genocide or the genocide on in Darfur, Sudan, now, there are always individuals who raise the alarm and say this is going on and we have to do something about it. Powers calls those people screamers. Garabedian, who earned her Ph.D. in international relations at the WATERTOWN–More than 75 community members gathered at the Arsenal Center for the Arts Monday, January 8, to hear director Carla Garapedian discuss her new film, Screamers, the gripping documentary about the multi-platinum, Grammy-award winning band System Of A Down’s campaign to end the cycle of genocide. The film will open in theaters in Boston on January 26. The event organized by Maya Releasing and the Armenian National Committee featured a video presentation of excerpts from the film and presented the community with the opportunity to meet with Garapedian. The gathering also was aimed to garner community support for the film’s release. "Screamers is about exposing the denial of all genocide, Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, the Iraqi Kurds and the current horror in Darfur," said Garapedian. "It is about making sure the same critical message George Clooney and Don Cheadle are ‘screaming’ about is heard, that these atrocities ‘never happen again.’ And I believe, it is this generation, the ‘screamers,’ who will make sure all genocide is recognized and ends, because ‘screamers’ will no longer tolerate or accept previous generations of politicians and humanitarians who have so miserably failed them." Garapedian explained that she got the term Screamers from Harvard Professor Samantha Power, the virtual narrator in the film, who in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Problem From Hell: America in the Age of Genocide., argues that in each case of genocide, whether it is the Armenian genocide or the genocide on in Darfur, Sudan, now, there are always individuals who raise the alarm and say this is going on and we have to do something about it. Powers calls those people screamers. Garabedian, who earned her Ph.D. in international relations at the prestigious London School of Economics and is the only American even to anchor the BBC World News, also discussed the power of highlighting the Screaming of Grammy award winning System of a Down. Garapedian also attentively listened to commen’s and suggestions from the audience regarding how the community can play a role in advancing the film’s message and rally crowds to fill theaters when the film debuts in Boston. Earlier, in the her welcoming remarks, ANC’s Sharistan Melkonian said any one interested in advancing human rights and the prevention of genocide must see the film of the Armenian National Committee welcomed the crowd stating that any person with any interest in human rights and genocide prevention must see this film. Kevin Benson, the president of Maya Releasing, the company distributing the film nationwide, outlined the plans his company has to promote and release the film nationally and delineated the strategy, by which the film would be distributed. Maya’s community outreach director Ara Khachatourian urged the participants of the event to become "ambassadors" of the film and to ensure that their personal and professional circles are aware that such an important documentary will be playing in a theater "near you!" Also present during the evening was artist Donna Eichholz who displayed a commemorative glass art pendant she designed exclusively for Screamers.. The pendant can be viewed and purchased in Boston exclusively at Adamas Jewelers in Newton. Screamers debuted at the American Film Institute Film Festival on November 2 and won the coveted AFI Audience Award. On hand for the opening were Garapedian, "System Of A Down" band members Serj Tankian, John Dolmayan and Shavo Odadjian, producers Pete McAlevey and Tim Swain, sponsor Raffy Manoukian of the Raffy Manoukian Charity and a host of genocide recognition and prevention activists from the ANCA, Save Darfur, and other groups. Screamers is a production of MG2 productions in association with BBC Television and The Raffi Manoukian Charity. Garapedian, a veteran reporter who has made a career of covering the most difficult stories, from Chechenya to repression in Afghanistan, follows the European tour of System Of A Down and their ongoing efforts, through music and activism, to raise awareness about denial of all genocide, tracing the band members’ own personal journey of their grandparents surviving the Armenian Genocide and its legacy of a century of atrocities. The film, distributed by Maya Entertainment, is currently playing in the Los Angeles area and will have a special Capitol Hill screening on January 17 at the Library of Congress, The film opens in Boston on January 26. For more information on the film and film locations, visit the officials Screamers web site at Screamersmovie.com.
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