Genocidal Act vs. Spirit of Humanitarianism – Two Contrasting Human Traits

My goal is to spread awareness about the most horrific crime facing humanity: Genocide. I believe by producing films on
genocide and educating the audience, we can prevent future genocides from happening.

Women of 1915 took us three and a half years from concept to completion. I started working on it early 2013 and it premiered in June of 2016.

While working on my previous documentary film, Orphans of the Genocide, my research led me to discover that every time a child was rescued from the Armenian genocide, there was almost always a woman behind it. In most cases the women who saved these children were Armenian women who themselves were survivors and took in these “roaming orphans” off the streets and raised them as their own.

What surprised me the most was the fact that a lot of times non-Armenian, American, Scandinavian, European, Canadian and Australian women leaving their plush lives behind, flocked into the killing fields of the Armenian Genocide and saved tens of thousands of children and women.

I thought this was a phenomenal human experience and that those heroines should be under the spotlight and I dedicated a whole film to them.

The challenges in making the film were two fold: the painstaking research and my commitment to unveiling untold stories were in themselves challenges that, with persistence and hard work we were able to achieve our goals and bring these real but dormant characters to life. Women of 1915, being a not-for-profit project, naturally was based on private donations and grants. It was truly an arduous journey to secure those funds, however generous friends appeared like angels at crucial times of need and saved the situation, just as heroes would, for which I am deeply grateful. I would also like to mention the Armenian Relief Society of Eastern USA, Western USA and Canada who along with Ararat Eskijian museum were our main partners. Also AGBU , AIWA -NJ, ANCA-WR, among others, provided valuable input and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart.

EXCERPTS FROM WOMEN OF 1915

“I consider the women of 1915 very heroic. They were put
before a situation that was inconceivable in their society
and in their lives and they had to rise to it in order to save
at least a little bit of what they had.”

“Grandma’s courage has been a highlight in my life in
picking up the pieces and moving on. Of not getting stuck,
of recognizing that I have choices and I can make those
choices to do and to be something more than I thought I
could ever be.”

“We never know in life when something’s going
to happen that’s going to set us back, but we do
have the opportunity when you’re surrounded with
people like grandma and like our parents, who teach
us resilience,who teach us strong work ethics, who
teach us to be positive and give us a lot of love to
move forward, and that’s a gift.”

“Today, as a consequence of the Genocide, we abundantly
see commercial carpets or needleworks in Armenian motifs
and techniques, falsely presented as Turkish art. In fact,
many embroidered works, especially those with gold and
silver thread, were confiscated and the gold and silver
thread were removed and melted down, the gems were
taken.”

“Also, some of the artistic work that didn’t have crosses
in them were later on donated to museums as Turkish
artwork, as Turkish needlework, as Turkish needlecraft. “