GLENDALE—The Armenian National Committee – Western Region announced that filmmaker Eric Nazarian will serve as a panelist in “Lights, Camera, Activate,” which will cover the ways in which film, music and the arts can be used to promote grassroots activism. The presentation is part of the ANC Grassroots weekend that will take place from Friday, November 25 to Sunday, November 27, at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.
Eric Nazarian is an Armenian-American film director and screenwriter, whose latest film “Bolis” recently won the award for Best Short Film at the Arpa International Film Festival. The film, which was shot entirely in Turkey, takes its name from the Armenian word for Istanbul. The 15-minute film focuses on the character Armenak who is an oud player traveling to Istanbul for the first time for an important musical event. His feelings toward the city are very complex, for he identifies it as the place his Armenian grandfather fled from the Genocide in 1915. Armenak arrives full of prejudice, expecting to hate the place, but instead finds it very familiar. The film takes the viewer through an evocative journey as Armenak searches for his grandfather’s old musical instrument shop, and the answers to his past, with only an old photo and a street name. “Bolis” had its world premiere at the European Capital of Cultures festival in Istanbul in 2010.
His film The Blue Hour premiered at the 2007 San Sebastian International Film Festival and was selected by Nanni Moretti to screen at the 25th Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy.
Nazarian was born in Armenia and moved to the United States as a young child. He grew up in Los Angeles and is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts. In 2008, Nazarian won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship, the world’s most prestigious screenwriting competition.
The three-day ANC Grassroots program is a groundbreaking weekend of workshops and panel presentations that will educate the community about civic leadership arising from grassroots efforts. ANC Grassroots will bookend the Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region Annual Banquet, which will take place on Saturday, November 26 at 7 p.m.
ANC Grassroots and the Annual Banquet are open to interested individuals throughout the entire United States, and participants are encouraged to register early.
Tickets for ANC Grassroots, which includes the Friday night cocktail in the Starview Room; as well as conference sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which include breakfast, post-banquet dance, and a keynote luncheon on Sunday, are $49. Tickets for the Annual Banquet are $200.
Students with valid ID can purchase discounted tickets to the Annual Banquet and conference.
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Hello Eric,
My Name is Onnik H. I was invited on April 24 at ALEX theater Commemorating the ARMENIAN GENOCIDE by the Turks. You were one of the key speakers followed by your film BOLIS. At the time I learn more about you and your achievements, particularly your interest in covering the plight of the 1.5 million Armenians 1915 – 1923. I am writing to you because my grand parents had to depart Turkey under very difficult routs, and the only place they could go was Bulgaria. I was born in Bulgaria and went to an Armenian school in Plovdiv, BG. At the time the principle of the Armenian School Was the father of my schoolmate Horen Vetzigian,…Suren Vetzigian he was the only survivor of his family and most of the population that lived in Shabin Karahisar, and the only withness of Shabin-Karahisar uprising. One of the reasons I am writing to you is that, Mr. Suren Vetzigian has written a book, in great detail the times when he was 10 years old in 1915 until his from America where he ends up with the help of American Organizations, returning to Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The book is written in Bulgarian which I have read several times, and was absolutely stricken by the events Suren Vetzigian has described them. I believe you might be interested to learn what was happening first hand from a 10 year old boy, who first survives the uprising and massacre in Shabin Karahisar with his brother and mother. Later his brother drowned and his mother had taken prematurely rat poison thinking that his sons had perished. I hope you will get this information and fill free to get in touch with me if you need to.
Respectfully Onnik Hovanesian onnikh@yahoo.com 818/762-9283