Join us for a screening of the award-winning animated documentary Aurora's Sunrise followed by a Q&A with director and screenwriter Inna Sahakyan led by David Gutman, associate professor of history at Manhattanville College.
At only 14 years old, Aurora lost everything during the horror of the Armenian genocide. Two years later, through luck and extraordinary courage, she escaped to New York, where her story became a media sensation. Starring as herself in Auction of Souls, an early Hollywood blockbuster, Aurora became the face of one of the largest charity campaigns in American history. With a blend of vivid animation, interviews with Aurora herself, and 18 minutes of surviving footage from her lost silent epic, Aurora's Sunrise revives a forgotten story of survival.
For over fifteen years, Inna Sahakyan has directed and produced feature-length documentaries, doc series, and shorts that have been broadcasted internationally. She focuses on uncovering untold and forgotten stories while exploring the nature of humanity through intimate and innovative filmmaking. Her feature-length debut, co-directed with Arman Yeritsyan, was the award-winning The Last Tightrope Dancer in Armenia in 2010. Recently, she completed Mel, a story about a transgender weightlifter from Armenia. In 2022, her animated documentary about Armenian Genocide survivor and early Hollywood star Aurora Mardiganyan, Aurora’s Sunrise, became a festival favorite and screened at over 40 festivals, winning several awards, including the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2022 for Best Animated Film, Movies that Matter 2023 for Special Mention and Audience Award, Audience Favorites at IDFA 2022, Audience Awards at Animation is Film 2022 and FIFDH-International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva 2023 for Grand Prix, among others. Inna has also worked as a producer on documentaries such as One, Two, Three and Donkeymentary.
Aurora's Sunrise was created by Bars Media Studio (Armenia) in co-production with Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion (Germany) & Artbox Laisvalaikio Klubas (Lithuania). The film was made possible by the academic contribution of the Zoryan Institute and is based on its Oral History Archive. This event is organized and hosted in partnership with Bars Media and Zoryan Institute.