April 12, 2010

On Wednesday, April 7th at 7:30pm in the Babayan ballroom of the Alex Manoogian Cultural Centre, AGBU Toronto was proud to present the Toronto premiere of The River Ran Red, the final film of documentarian of Dr. J. Michael Hagopian’s trilogy “The Witnesses”. Over 200 people were present for the screening.

After a silent prayer in memory of the innocent victims of the 95th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, AGBU Toronto Board Member, Dr. Isa Basmajian introduced Dr. Hagopian who was present to discuss the film. Dr. Hagopian holds a doctorate in International Relations from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He has made it his life’s work to document what happened during the genocide, and is a pioneer of efforts to document the Armenian genocide through films such as Voices From the Lake and the Forgotten Genocide.

The River Ran Red is the Epic Search for Survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. It documents eyewitness accounts from survivors of the Genocide who were sent to their fate along the Euphrates River to the Syrian Desert and Der Zor. The screening of The River Ran Red was followed by a question and answer period. Dr. Hagopian had copies of his movie on hand for sale and noted that they can also be purchased on his website, www.armenianfilm.org.

Let us remember that Dr. Hagopian’s films and the eye witness accounts they document are very important because they help transmit first hand accounts of the genocide that would otherwise be lost in time. Thanks to films like The River Ran Red, information about the collective Armenian past is transmitted to future generations.