The Armenian EyeCare Project (AECP) and Art Simon Productions announced on Tuesday that the “The Armenian EyeCare Project” documentary has won the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award, which has been widely recognized as a symbol of excellence in professional and independent filmmaking for over 50 years.
The AECP Documentary was Produced and Directed by Art Simon of Art Simon Productions and was awarded the CINE Golden Eagle for the Spring, 2010 competition–one of two competitions conducted by CINE each year.
Winners of the CINE competitions are chosen through a rigorous, tiered jury system, based on criteria reflecting storytelling, production value, artistry, purpose and overall excellence. The award ceremony took place on June 3 in Washington D.C.
Since its foundation in 1957, CINE has been dedicated to discovering, rewarding, educating, and supporting established and emerging talent in film and video. Among great talents whose first films were awarded CINE Golden Eagles are Steven Spielberg, Ken Burns and Ron Howard, and filmmakers such as Robert Zemeckis, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorcese, Mira Nair, Charles Guggenheim, Stanley Nelson, Albert Maysles, Frederick Wiseman have also been recipients of the Golden Eagle Award.
“The Armenian EyeCare Project” documentary has been recognized by CINE as the best under the category of Motivational films, aiming at inspiring people to take action. The documentary joined the archive of CINE winners, which can be found at www.cine.org.
Click here to view “The Armenian EyeCare Project” documentary.
“The Armenian EyeCare Project” documentary tells about the overall operations of the Armenian EyeCare Project (AECP), including stories about AECP medical missions arriving in Armenia and the work of the AECP and its counterparts in the way of providing quality eye care to Armenian people. More importantly, the film presents thrilling patient stories with people, treated by the AECP, telling the audiences about the changes they experience after the sight-saving surgeries and treatment.
“When it came time to edit this film, I had over 60 hours of footage, which I had to cut down to about ten minutes. Editing this film was one of the most difficult editing jobs that I’ve done. Not in a technical sense, but because of my emotional connection to the subjects and their stories,” said Art Simon, the producer of the film.
About Art Simon Productions
Since 1996, through the use of Cinematic Storytelling, Art Simon Productions has helped hundreds of clients sell, raise funds, inspire, lead and turn adversaries into believers. Some of the clients and projects include: NASA, Honda, RedBull, Discovery Channel, PBS, MTV, GE, The State of California, Red Cross, Legal Aid Foundation, USC, Freddie-Mac, and many celebrity stories for; Liza Minnelli, Milton Berle, Gladys Knight, Tupac Shakur, and Ice Cube. Some of the epic results include, helping spur One-Billion dollars for building new K-12 Schools, raising over one million dollars for children in poverty, and getting acceptance and recognition for new cancer treatments that will save hundreds of lives. The industry and peers have consistently awarded Art Simon Productions for its creativity and effectiveness in communications, with more than 27 awards including 3 Cine Golden Eagle awards and 18 Telly Awards.
About the Armenian EyeCare Project
Founded in 1992, in the United States by an American-Armenian ophthalmologist Roger Ohanesian, M.D., the Armenian EyeCare Project (AECP) is a California based nonprofit corporation dedicated to the elimination of preventable blindness in Armenia. In 2003, the AECP established an office in Yerevan and launched its program “Bringing Sight to Armenian Eyes.” The Initiative has five comprehensive, integrated components developed to eliminate preventable blindness. They include direct patient care, medical education and training, public education, research and capacity building. More than 265,000 people have been screened and over 11,000 sight-saving surgeries and laser treatments have been performed in the Mobile Eye Hospital. The AECP has been a USAID partner since 2004.
