Press Releases

July 3, 2008
Business Wire — "UNITED NATIONS SCREENS CONTROVERSIAL "SCREAMERS" FILM IN TOKYO"

"Screamers," the critically-acclaimed documentary about genocide in the last century, with music by the Grammy award-winning rock band 'System of a Down,' was featured last week at the United Nations Refugee Film Festival 2008 in Tokyo, sponsored by

UNHCR and Japan for UNHCR. UNHCR called the festival a "vital component of UNHCR's year round action plan to raise awareness of the plight and triumph of the world's 33 million refugees and internally displaced persons. A select array of films from across the globe gives voice to seldom-heard stories of hope, despair, and resilience. In line with World Refugee Day's theme for this year, the festival draws attention to the human side of refugees."

"We included "Screamers" in the festival this year because it looks at the history of genocide and what is happening in Darfur -- through the eyes of history," says Festival Director Kirill Konin.

"Film is an important medium to introduce the many aspects of the lives and circumstances of refugees across the world, and through this entertainment vehicle, create better awareness and understanding," said Angelina Jolie, UNHCR's Goodwill Ambassador.

"Screamers" examines the repeating pattern of genocide, from the Armenian genocide, to the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, up to Darfur today. After its theatrical release in the US and Canada, the documentary was screened in the U.S. Congress, British Parliament and European Parliament to raise awareness about Darfur and genocide education. Sony BMG has recently launched "Screamers" DVD in seven languages.

Director Carla Garapedian, who has made documentaries about Afghanistan and Chechnya, led discussion sessions at the UNHCR Festival for "Screamers" as well as "Letter to Anna," about the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, directed by Eric Bergkraut, and "Kite Runner," the uplifting story of truth and redemption in Afghanistan, directed by Marc Foster. Director Steve Thomas was on-hand to discuss his film "Hope" about the journey of an Iraqi refugee family to Australia.

"We must remember history," said Garapedian. "After the Armenian genocide, the U.S. opened its doors to thousands of refugee survivors from Ottoman Turkey, including my family. If they hadn't done that, I wouldn't be here."

The UNHCR screening of "Screamers" follows a dispute in April 2007 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where the Turkish delegation demanded reference to the Armenian genocide be omitted from an exhibition entitled, "Lessons from Rwanda," sponsored by the Aegis Trust. After a three week delay, and criticisms from the media and former UN Commander Romeo Daillaire, reference to the Armenian genocide remained in the exhibition, but only after the word "murder" was changed to "mass killings."

Turkey continues to deny that its successors committed genocide. Under its penal code, it will prosecute anyone who raises the issue on the grounds of "insulting Turkishness." Last week, publisher Ragip Zaracolu was sentenced to five months in prison, commuted to a fine, for publishing a book about the Armenian genocide. Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor and contributor to "Screamers", was also being prosecuted under the code before he was assassinated last year. Meanwhile, U.S. Senate confirmation hearings for the new ambassador-elect to the Republic of Armenia, Marie Yovanovitch, were postponed last week because the State Department has delayed responding to Senators' questions about the ambassador-elect's position on Armenian genocide recognition. The position has been unfilled since Ambassador John Evans was recalled two years ago by the Bush Administration for recognizing the Armenian genocide. Another Ambassador-elect, Richard Hoagland, was withdrawn last year after a Senate hold.

MEDIA CONTACT: GS Entertainment Marketing Group, 323-860-0270 or MG2 Productions: info@screamersmovie.com

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February 4, 2008
THE CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARY AND WINNER OF THE AUDIENCE AWARD, AFI FILM FESTIVAL 2006 ®Screamers Debuts on DVD February 19, 2008

Special Features Include Going Backstage, Bonus Song, and Press Conference
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – MG2 Productions in association with BBC Television and The Raffy Manoukian Charity present SCREAMERS, taking center stage on DVD February 19, 2008 from Sony BMG Entertainment. Directed by award-winning journalist and filmmaker, Carla Garapedian, this gripping documentary traces the history of modern-day genocide and genocide denial -- from the Ottoman Empire at the start of the 20th century, to the current genocide in Darfur. Follow the multi-platinum album selling and Grammy-Award®-winning* band, System of a Down as they raise awareness for human rights atrocities that continue to plague the world today.

“[An] invigorating and articulate film [that] unfolds at the sensitive intersection of entertainment and politics," said Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, during its theatrical release in the United States. Also the winner of the Audience Award at the AFI Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Montreal Human Rights Festival, SCREAMERS is truly a must see. This shattering and powerful DVD includes seven never-before-released concert and behind-the-scenes footage of the band on tour. "A brilliant film," says Larry King of CNN, that asks the audience, as well as all people, to be “screamers” and to speak out against injustice.

"Genocides, we should feel, are all one, said Serj Tankian, lead singer of System of a Down. "I think this is an important film. It's not just about System, it is about the denial of genocide, the common denominator of all genocides, how they get away with it. It is about the hypocrisy of denial."

A similar sentiment is shared by the film's director:
“The band's music is the perfect vehicle to make people wake up and take action to end the cycle of genocide," said Carla Garapedian. "SCREAMERS busts wide-open the hypocrisy of politicians and governments who have misleadingly vowed 'never again.' This film reminds us that we, as individuals, can make a difference. We can, as Serj says, all be screamers.”

A chilling segment in the film features an exclusive interview with one such 'screamer,' journalist and activist, Hrant Dink. Brutally killed shortly after the film's premiere for speaking out for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Hrant Dink spent the majority of his life fighting the government of Turkey's ongoing denial of the Genocide.

Synopsis
Multi-platinum, Grammy-Award winning band, System Of A Down, lend their music to this critically acclaimed political movie-- an impassioned synthesis of concert film and hard-hitting exposé about genocide in the last century-- from the Armenian genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century, to the genocide now in Darfur. The film includes commentary and interviews with Pulitzer prize-winning author Samantha Power (“A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide”), survivors from Turkey, Rwanda and Darfur, FBI whistleblowers, and the recently assassinated Hrant Dink, who all shed light on why genocides occur and how they are permitted to repeat.

Screamers was conceived by Peter McAlevey and Carla Garapedian and produced by Nick de Grunwald, Tim Swain, Carla Garapedian and Peter McAlevey.

DVD Extras
The Screamers DVD will include the following, never before seen special features:
• "Going Backstage"- Fan meets the band backstage
• "Armenian School"- Teachers remember Serj, Daron and Shavo at school
• "Where Did We Come from?"- Serj and John pinpoint exactly where their families came from
• "Grandfather’s Village"- Serj’s grandfather’s village in Turkey today
• Bonus Song- "Question!"
• Never-before seen concert footage
• Hrant Dink in Memoriam- Exclusive interview with Hrant Dink in Istanbul
• Press Conference - Serj and John at Screamers’s Premiere press conference
• "Spiral into Flames"- Glass artist at work creating genocide commemorative symbol
• Get Connected -Director tells you how to find out more
• Trailer - Screamer’s theatrical trailer

 

 

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April 10, 2007
“SCREAMERS” SERJ TANKIAN AND CARLA GARAPEDIAN
DENOUNCE CANCELLATION OF UN GENOCIDE EXHIBITION
MENTIONING ARMENIANS

Following the UN Secretary General’s request to remove a sentence referring to a million Armenians being murdered during the Ottoman Empire from the Aegis Trust exhibition “Lessons from Rwanda,” and the exhibition’s subsequent cancellation, Serj Tankian and Carla Garapedian have issued the following statement:
“We are very shocked by this decision by the Secretary General to remove mention of a historical event which is well-documented by thousands of official records of the United States and nations around the world, including Turkey’s wartime allies, Germany, Austria and Hungary, by Ottoman court martial records and by eyewitness accounts of missionaries, diplomats and survivors as well as decades of historical scholarship. In the U.S., President Bush has called the events the ‘forced exile and annihilation of approximately 1.5 million Armenians.’

“Elie Wiesel says denial is the last stage of genocide – this act of censorship by the Secretary General is effectively an act of appeasement to the very forces in Turkey that led to the recent death of Hrant Dink, and the prosecution of Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk. Other writers and artists in Turkey are facing prison sentences today under Article 301, for wanting to speak openly about this issue. What message does this send to them? The reason why genocides have continued in the last century – from the Armenian genocide, to the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda, to the genocide going on now in Darfur – is because the international community has not intervened to stop them. Sadly, the Secretary General’s decision to stop any mention of the antecedents to the Rwanda Genocide is a blow to those who want to stop genocide now.”

Serj Tankian, songwriter, singer, poet, activist and lead singer of System of a Down, appears in the film Screamers, which traces the history of genocide in the last century, from the Armenian genocide, to the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. He was invited by the Aegis Trust to meet the Secretary General on Monday, along with Screamers director, Carla Garapedian. Aegis is co-sponsoring a screening of the Screamers in the British Parliament, following its theatrical run in the U.S. and screening in the U.S. Library of Congress.

James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust wrote to Tankian and Garapedian explaining why Aegis wouldn’t submit to the Secretary General’s request, which followed a protest from the Turkish government. The sentence in dispute: “Following World War 1, during which one million Armenians were murdered in Turkey, Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged the League of Nations to recognize crimes of barbarity as international crimes.”
“Had we been asked to remove reference of atrocities to Jews because German objected, we would have been equally resistant,” said Smith. “We can’t apply one rule to some and not to others because of the political wind in the UN is blowing against the Armenians,” he said. Removing the sentence would amount to a “denial of elementary facts.”
Garapedian added, “Perhaps the Secretary General should visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC where another sentence is engraved on the wall – ‘Who remembers the Armenians?’ That was Hitler’s answer to why he could get away with murdering the Jews. Hitler used the Armenian genocide as a blueprint for the Holocaust. The Secretary General should also visit the Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda, which has become the focal point for national remembrance and education about the 1994 genocide. There, too, the Armenian genocide is commemorated. No one there is trying to bury the truth.”

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January 24, 2007
JOBLO.COM INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR CARLA GARAPEDIAN

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JANUARY 20, 2007
TURKISH JOURNALIST’S MURDER DENOUNCED BY
“SCREAMERS” FILM DIRECTOR

Hrant Dink, who was killed yesterday for speaking out about the need for Turkey to be open about its past, including the Armenian genocide, voiced similar concerns in the documentary "Screamers," which is opening in theatres in New York and Washington, DC on January 26th.

"Hrant Dink has long been a voice for tolerance and understanding, and it is inconceivable that this message was not heard by the criminal who took his life away,” says “Screamers” director Carla Garapedian.

Dink was the editor of the Agos newspaper and was shot to death on the street in front of his office Friday in Istanbul. Garapedian interviewed Dink in Istanbul for “Screamers” to discuss the pressures being faced by people who want to speak freely about the Armenian genocide - notably himself, Orhan Pamuk and publisher Ragip Zaracolou. In the film, he explains that many people in Turkey cannot comprehend that their predecessors would be perpetrators of genocide. "Because they're against genocide and wouldn't commit it themselves, they can't believe their ancestors would have done such things either." It’s a battle, he said, for hearts and minds.

"Dink knew very well the danger of speaking freely for what he believed in,” says Garapedian. “Like his friend Orhan Pamuk, he was under prosecution, under Article 301, for 'insulting the Turkish state.'" “There has to be a process for a people to have the right to know the truth," Dink told Garapedian in Turkey. "The progressive elements of Turkey are working in this direction and those outside should help us in this direction."
On Friday, Dink lost his fight for peace and democracy in Turkey. “When I interviewed him for the film he told me his life had been threatened many times,” says Garapedian. "They are always making threats by phone or email,” Dink told her. “I cannot be as free as normal people, I have to be careful, always looking over my shoulder." Dink spoke about his friend, Nobel prize-winner Orhan Pamuk, who has also faced daily threats after saying a million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Turks.

After "Screamers" was released in Los Angeles last December, Garapedian asked the Turkish government for a response to the film. Weeks later, the government issued a statement saying that the Turkish government would redouble its efforts to combat the "lies" being disseminated by the Armenian diaspora. Yesterday, the government condemned the killing of Hrant Dink. "Whatever they have said, I can only think their call to deny the genocide sent a green light to those forces of extremism in Turkey that are only too ready to rely on the gun," said Garapedian.

This week "Screamers," which examines genocide denial in the last century, from the Armenian Genocide, to the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur, was shown at the Library of Congress, to a standing-room only crowd of over 200 people. Attendees included 7 members of Congress and numerous young staffers all among the over 100 million fans of the band, System of a Down, who are featured in the film. The event was sponsored by Congressman Adam Schiff, Save Darfur and the ANCA. Dink's words were heard by members of Congress and echoed in the halls of the Library of Congress. As Dink told Garapedian, "Those who live in a democracy may not be able to comprehend why someone can not accept their past. What they may not realize is that the person they are talking to is not as open-minded as they are."

"The last time I saw him was in November for our AFI premiere in Los Angeles, smiling as usual," said Garapedian. "He was a true democrat with a big heart and the courage to move forward, no matter the danger. Dink, in his own way, was a Screamer. I feel very honored to have known him."

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