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New York Sun, NY
Jan 31 2007
Screaming To Be Heard
Movies
By STEVE DOLLAR
January 31, 2007
Even though its topic is the Armenian genocide of a century ago, the
new documentary "Screamers" is startlingly of the moment. The film's
premiere in New York this past weekend was overshadowed by the
January 19 assassination of one of its most forthright subjects, the
Turkish-Armenian journalist and activist Hrant Dink.
Director Carla Garapedian remembers the day she spent with Dink, who
had been prosecuted three times for "insulting Turkishness," by
speaking out about the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917. "He told me, `Every time I
leave the office, I look over my shoulder,'" Ms. Garapedian said.
"And he was shot outside his office. It's very upsetting. He got a
lot of publicity inside Turkey because of the film."
As a documentary producer long affiliated with the BBC, the
American-born filmmaker is no stranger to global hot spots. Turkey is
not supposed to be one of them. But that's part of the film's
message. Turkish nationalism and its suppression of free speech is at
odds with its desire to become part of the European Union, while its
strategic location gives it political leverage with Western powers,
which avoid official use of the "G" word. Turkish authorities offered
Ms. Garapedian no official response to the copy of "Screamers" she
sent them, she said, but they did make a public declaration about
denying "lies disseminated by the Armenian Diaspora."
"Something that happened 100 years ago is part of a current political
debate," Ms. Garapedian said, chatting recently over an espresso
during a brief New York visit. "The government has institutionalized
its denial of it. They prosecute anyone who talks about it. It's a
very extreme thing." The granddaughter of survivors who is part of a
strong Armenian community in Los Angeles, Ms. Garapedian always
thought the topic was too personal for her. Then she began following
the progressive heavy metal band System of a Down, a quartet of young
Armenian musicians from Los Angeles who had grandparents who also
were survivors, and had grown up hearing the same kinds of stories
that Ms. Garapedian's family had told her.
Meeting fans at the band's concerts, she was impressed by how much
American teenagers knew about the genocide. "These were kids and they
were not Armenians," she said. "So I decided, maybe the way to tell
the story is from the grassroots up, from the music and the kids'
point of views, rather than it being the kind of documentary I
usually make, which is more didactic."
As such, "Screamers" is an unusual hybrid of "rockumentary" and
social protest film. It mixes extensive concert and backstage footage
of System of a Down, whose complex rhythms and old-world folk
flourishes set it apart from many of its Ozzfest peers, as surely as
the explicit political themes in its lyrics. Ms. Garapedian expanded
on her initial premise at the behest of System's vocalist, Serj
Tankian, whose then-94-year-old grandfather, Stepan Haytayan, was
interviewed, along with other survivors, activists, and historians
for the film.
"He wanted it to be about all genocides," Ms. Garapedian said. And so
"Screamers" draws a line from the Armenians through a century of
other genocides, citing Hitler's notorious refrain, "Who remembers
the Armenians?"
The big question, as posed by Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar Samantha
Powers ("A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide"), and
repeated by Ms. Garapedian, is: "Why is it that America says `never
again,' but genocides keep repeating? Why is our policy one of
nonintervention and neutrality?"
The film's title, which at first suggests System's aggressive rock,
is actually drawn from Ms. Powers's work. "Screamers are people who
refuse to stand by and watch something unfold," Ms. Garapedian said.
"Perpetrators always deny. It's us colluding in the denial, because
of our foreign policy - that's what's really galling. The economic
and defense interests are very strong."
Had Ms. Garapedian's grandmother, who survived into her mid-90s,
lived long enough, she would have made an impressive witness.
"It just seems like I've always known about it," the filmmaker said.
"Even the meals she would make, there would always be a story because
she was on the deportation march. Even during the 1994 earthquake, my
grandmother lived in Van Nuys, not too far from the epicenter. I
drove over to grandma's - is she going to be okay? Water mains have
burst. Cars are turned over. Complete chaos. I get to grandma's
house, and she's walking amid devastation. You can smell chemicals in
the air because of the chemical plant nearby where something burst.
"I said, `Grandma, are you okay?' and she said, `Honey, you want some
breakfast?' I said, `Grandma! Breakfast? Are you okay?' And she takes
my hand and says, `Honey, this is nothing.' Everything in her life
compared to being on the deportation march and seeing people die
around her, such barbarity, everything is nothing."
http://www.nysun.com/article/47701
Jan 31 2007
Screaming To Be Heard
Movies
By STEVE DOLLAR
January 31, 2007
Even though its topic is the Armenian genocide of a century ago, the
new documentary "Screamers" is startlingly of the moment. The film's
premiere in New York this past weekend was overshadowed by the
January 19 assassination of one of its most forthright subjects, the
Turkish-Armenian journalist and activist Hrant Dink.
Director Carla Garapedian remembers the day she spent with Dink, who
had been prosecuted three times for "insulting Turkishness," by
speaking out about the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917. "He told me, `Every time I
leave the office, I look over my shoulder,'" Ms. Garapedian said.
"And he was shot outside his office. It's very upsetting. He got a
lot of publicity inside Turkey because of the film."
As a documentary producer long affiliated with the BBC, the
American-born filmmaker is no stranger to global hot spots. Turkey is
not supposed to be one of them. But that's part of the film's
message. Turkish nationalism and its suppression of free speech is at
odds with its desire to become part of the European Union, while its
strategic location gives it political leverage with Western powers,
which avoid official use of the "G" word. Turkish authorities offered
Ms. Garapedian no official response to the copy of "Screamers" she
sent them, she said, but they did make a public declaration about
denying "lies disseminated by the Armenian Diaspora."
"Something that happened 100 years ago is part of a current political
debate," Ms. Garapedian said, chatting recently over an espresso
during a brief New York visit. "The government has institutionalized
its denial of it. They prosecute anyone who talks about it. It's a
very extreme thing." The granddaughter of survivors who is part of a
strong Armenian community in Los Angeles, Ms. Garapedian always
thought the topic was too personal for her. Then she began following
the progressive heavy metal band System of a Down, a quartet of young
Armenian musicians from Los Angeles who had grandparents who also
were survivors, and had grown up hearing the same kinds of stories
that Ms. Garapedian's family had told her.
Meeting fans at the band's concerts, she was impressed by how much
American teenagers knew about the genocide. "These were kids and they
were not Armenians," she said. "So I decided, maybe the way to tell
the story is from the grassroots up, from the music and the kids'
point of views, rather than it being the kind of documentary I
usually make, which is more didactic."
As such, "Screamers" is an unusual hybrid of "rockumentary" and
social protest film. It mixes extensive concert and backstage footage
of System of a Down, whose complex rhythms and old-world folk
flourishes set it apart from many of its Ozzfest peers, as surely as
the explicit political themes in its lyrics. Ms. Garapedian expanded
on her initial premise at the behest of System's vocalist, Serj
Tankian, whose then-94-year-old grandfather, Stepan Haytayan, was
interviewed, along with other survivors, activists, and historians
for the film.
"He wanted it to be about all genocides," Ms. Garapedian said. And so
"Screamers" draws a line from the Armenians through a century of
other genocides, citing Hitler's notorious refrain, "Who remembers
the Armenians?"
The big question, as posed by Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar Samantha
Powers ("A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide"), and
repeated by Ms. Garapedian, is: "Why is it that America says `never
again,' but genocides keep repeating? Why is our policy one of
nonintervention and neutrality?"
The film's title, which at first suggests System's aggressive rock,
is actually drawn from Ms. Powers's work. "Screamers are people who
refuse to stand by and watch something unfold," Ms. Garapedian said.
"Perpetrators always deny. It's us colluding in the denial, because
of our foreign policy - that's what's really galling. The economic
and defense interests are very strong."
Had Ms. Garapedian's grandmother, who survived into her mid-90s,
lived long enough, she would have made an impressive witness.
"It just seems like I've always known about it," the filmmaker said.
"Even the meals she would make, there would always be a story because
she was on the deportation march. Even during the 1994 earthquake, my
grandmother lived in Van Nuys, not too far from the epicenter. I
drove over to grandma's - is she going to be okay? Water mains have
burst. Cars are turned over. Complete chaos. I get to grandma's
house, and she's walking amid devastation. You can smell chemicals in
the air because of the chemical plant nearby where something burst.
"I said, `Grandma, are you okay?' and she said, `Honey, you want some
breakfast?' I said, `Grandma! Breakfast? Are you okay?' And she takes
my hand and says, `Honey, this is nothing.' Everything in her life
compared to being on the deportation march and seeing people die
around her, such barbarity, everything is nothing."
http://www.nysun.com/article/47701