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ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DOCUMENTARIAN HAGOPIAN DIES
by C.J. Lin / Los Angeles Daily News
Fresno Bee
December 14, 2010 Tuesday
California
J. Michael Hagopian, a former Fresnan whose 70 documentaries on the
Armenian Genocide won more than 160 awards, has died. He was 97.
Mr. Hagopian, a survivor of the genocide that killed an estimated 1.5
million people in Turkey from 1915-23, died Friday of natural causes
at his home in Thousand Oaks.
Mr. Hagopian filmed nearly 400 interviews of survivors and witnesses
to the genocide from around the world, and made 17 documentaries
about Armenian heritage, culture and history.
"Mr. Hagopian's documentary films on the Armenian Genocide are
a path-breaking work that will help inform generations to come of
the facts of the first genocide of the last century," said Rep. Adam
Schiff, D-Pasadena, who screened some of the films on Capitol Hill and
worked with the filmmaker on a variety of local Armenian issues. "He
will be deeply missed."
Born in 1913 in the village of Kharbert in what was then Western
Armenia, Mr. Hagopian eventually settled in Fresno in 1927.
He attended Fresno State and received his bachelor's and master's
degrees in political science from University of California at Berkeley
and earned another master's and a Ph.D. in government and international
relations from Harvard University.
He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II before
teaching at UCLA and other universities. He later attended USC
film school.
Mr. Hagopian received two Emmy nominations in 1976 for "The Forgotten
Genocide." His last film in a trilogy on the genocide, "The River
Ran Red," won Best International Historical Documentary at the
Amnesty International Film Festival in November and at the New York
International Film & Video Festival in 2009.
"Michael Hagopian was the Simon Wiesenthal of the Armenian people,"
said Jerry Papazian, vice chairman of the AFF. "He left a huge legacy.
He was a revered figure in the world of human rights."
In April, Mr. Hagopian signed an agreement with USC's Shoah Foundation
Institute -- which gathers video testimonies from Holocaust survivors
-- that will preserve and disseminate the Armenian Genocide interviews.
Mr. Hagopian is survived by his wife, Antoinette, and four children.
Funeral services will be held today at California Lutheran University
in Thousand Oaks.
From: A. Papazian
by C.J. Lin / Los Angeles Daily News
Fresno Bee
December 14, 2010 Tuesday
California
J. Michael Hagopian, a former Fresnan whose 70 documentaries on the
Armenian Genocide won more than 160 awards, has died. He was 97.
Mr. Hagopian, a survivor of the genocide that killed an estimated 1.5
million people in Turkey from 1915-23, died Friday of natural causes
at his home in Thousand Oaks.
Mr. Hagopian filmed nearly 400 interviews of survivors and witnesses
to the genocide from around the world, and made 17 documentaries
about Armenian heritage, culture and history.
"Mr. Hagopian's documentary films on the Armenian Genocide are
a path-breaking work that will help inform generations to come of
the facts of the first genocide of the last century," said Rep. Adam
Schiff, D-Pasadena, who screened some of the films on Capitol Hill and
worked with the filmmaker on a variety of local Armenian issues. "He
will be deeply missed."
Born in 1913 in the village of Kharbert in what was then Western
Armenia, Mr. Hagopian eventually settled in Fresno in 1927.
He attended Fresno State and received his bachelor's and master's
degrees in political science from University of California at Berkeley
and earned another master's and a Ph.D. in government and international
relations from Harvard University.
He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II before
teaching at UCLA and other universities. He later attended USC
film school.
Mr. Hagopian received two Emmy nominations in 1976 for "The Forgotten
Genocide." His last film in a trilogy on the genocide, "The River
Ran Red," won Best International Historical Documentary at the
Amnesty International Film Festival in November and at the New York
International Film & Video Festival in 2009.
"Michael Hagopian was the Simon Wiesenthal of the Armenian people,"
said Jerry Papazian, vice chairman of the AFF. "He left a huge legacy.
He was a revered figure in the world of human rights."
In April, Mr. Hagopian signed an agreement with USC's Shoah Foundation
Institute -- which gathers video testimonies from Holocaust survivors
-- that will preserve and disseminate the Armenian Genocide interviews.
Mr. Hagopian is survived by his wife, Antoinette, and four children.
Funeral services will be held today at California Lutheran University
in Thousand Oaks.
From: A. Papazian