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ARMENIANS MAKE A SPLASH IN NEW YORK AT SHOAH GALA HONORING GEORGE CLOONEY
BY STAFF
- POSTED ON OCTOBER 19, 2013POSTED IN: ARMENIA, NEWS
By Tamar Mashigian
October 19, 2013
(New York, October 14, 2013) - More than
40 Armenians from around the U.S. attended the USC Shoah Foundation
Institute Gala hosted by Steven Spielberg and honoring actor George
Clooney on Oct. 3 at the American Museum of Natural History in New
York City.
Both Spielberg and Clooney graciously acknowledged to this writer and
other Armenians the presence of the Armenian contingent and guests
at the gala.
There were approximately 700 guests at the banquet, held in the
museum's Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, also known as the Whale Room
because it features a replica of a 94-foot-long blue whale hanging
from the cavernous ceiling. When guests entered the banquet hall,
the cinematic lighting, with mottled blue colors swimming through the
space, gave the appearance of everything being underwater. The movie
"A Night at the Museum" was filmed in the same premises.
In the lobby of the museum, where guests milled during cocktail hour,
large screens played four film clips, one of them a short Shoah
Foundation documentary about the work of the late filmmaker Dr. J.
Michael Hagopian, who recorded the testimonies of 400 Armenian
eyewitnesses to the Armenian Genocide of 1915. When Barbara Gilmore,
who had worked with the documentary filmmaker for 40 years, introduced
herself to Clooney, he told her, "I know all about Hagopian."
Hagopian's filmed interviews of 400 Armenian Genocide survivors and
eyewitnesses will be integrated into Shoah's Visual History Archive,
accessible online to 44 universities and institutions worldwide. The
Armenian Film Foundation, which Hagopian co-founded in 1979, is now
working with the USC Shoah Foundation to complete funding for the
indexing, cataloguing and integration of the Armenian testimonies
into the Visual History Archive by April 2015.
The day after the Shoah Foundation banquet, a lunch presentation on
the Armenian Genocide Testimonies project was held at the Columbia
Club in Manhattan. The lunch was hosted by Armen A. Avanessians,
Managing Director of The Goldman Sachs Group and a Member of the Board
of Trustees at Columbia University. Avanessians also is on the board
of directors for FAR (Fund for Armenian Relief).
Nearly all of the people who attended the Shoah Foundation gala
attended the lunch, including Southern Californians Antoinette
and Joanne Hagopian, Gary and Arsine Phillips, Paul and Sandra
Kalemkiarian, Deputy Los Angeles City Attorney Michael Amerian, USA
Armenian Life editor Appo Jabarian, Armenian Film Foundation board
chair Jerry Papazian, and this writer. Various prominent members
of the Armenian communities on the East Coast also were present,
including Nvair Beylerian, whose grandfather Anoush Krikorian is
in the AFF archive, Ambassador and Mrs. John Evans, and Edward and
Pamela Avedisian.
A special video on J. Michael Hagopian was presented at the Columbia
Club lunch along with videos about the Armenian Genocide testimonies
archive. Armenian Film Foundation board member and filmmaker Carla
Garapedian announced that the AFF has completed the digitization
of the Hagopian's rare 16mm film collection, and she explained how
individual survivor interviews will be indexed and searchable online
via the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive.
"This is a new opportunity for Armenians," Garapedian asserted.
"Armenians have traditionally invested in the core infrastructure
of our communities - schools and churches. The Digital Archive is a
new kind of investment. It is about reaching out to the non-Armenian
community - to Americans and the international community who do not
know about the Armenian Genocide. It's about making these testimonies
accessible to the world."
The USC Shoah Foundation is actively engaged in an international
fund-raising campaign to ensure completion of the integration of the
Armenian testimonies so that they can be presented to the world in
time for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, in April 2015.
Shoah's Visual History Archive is the largest digital collection of
its kind in the world. The collection is available at 44 institutions
around the world, and approximately one million students, researchers,
teachers and lay people view the testimonies every year. In addition,
thousands of high school students across the country can view the
testimonies through IWitness, the USC Shoah Foundation's educational
website.
For additional information about the Armenian Genocide Testimonies
project, please contact Sylvia Moskovitz at the USC Shoah Foundation -
[email protected] or (213)740-4991.
http://www.armenianlife.com/2013/10/19/armenians-make-a-splash-in-new-york-at-shoah-gala-honoring-george-clooney/
BY STAFF
- POSTED ON OCTOBER 19, 2013POSTED IN: ARMENIA, NEWS
By Tamar Mashigian
October 19, 2013
(New York, October 14, 2013) - More than
40 Armenians from around the U.S. attended the USC Shoah Foundation
Institute Gala hosted by Steven Spielberg and honoring actor George
Clooney on Oct. 3 at the American Museum of Natural History in New
York City.
Both Spielberg and Clooney graciously acknowledged to this writer and
other Armenians the presence of the Armenian contingent and guests
at the gala.
There were approximately 700 guests at the banquet, held in the
museum's Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, also known as the Whale Room
because it features a replica of a 94-foot-long blue whale hanging
from the cavernous ceiling. When guests entered the banquet hall,
the cinematic lighting, with mottled blue colors swimming through the
space, gave the appearance of everything being underwater. The movie
"A Night at the Museum" was filmed in the same premises.
In the lobby of the museum, where guests milled during cocktail hour,
large screens played four film clips, one of them a short Shoah
Foundation documentary about the work of the late filmmaker Dr. J.
Michael Hagopian, who recorded the testimonies of 400 Armenian
eyewitnesses to the Armenian Genocide of 1915. When Barbara Gilmore,
who had worked with the documentary filmmaker for 40 years, introduced
herself to Clooney, he told her, "I know all about Hagopian."
Hagopian's filmed interviews of 400 Armenian Genocide survivors and
eyewitnesses will be integrated into Shoah's Visual History Archive,
accessible online to 44 universities and institutions worldwide. The
Armenian Film Foundation, which Hagopian co-founded in 1979, is now
working with the USC Shoah Foundation to complete funding for the
indexing, cataloguing and integration of the Armenian testimonies
into the Visual History Archive by April 2015.
The day after the Shoah Foundation banquet, a lunch presentation on
the Armenian Genocide Testimonies project was held at the Columbia
Club in Manhattan. The lunch was hosted by Armen A. Avanessians,
Managing Director of The Goldman Sachs Group and a Member of the Board
of Trustees at Columbia University. Avanessians also is on the board
of directors for FAR (Fund for Armenian Relief).
Nearly all of the people who attended the Shoah Foundation gala
attended the lunch, including Southern Californians Antoinette
and Joanne Hagopian, Gary and Arsine Phillips, Paul and Sandra
Kalemkiarian, Deputy Los Angeles City Attorney Michael Amerian, USA
Armenian Life editor Appo Jabarian, Armenian Film Foundation board
chair Jerry Papazian, and this writer. Various prominent members
of the Armenian communities on the East Coast also were present,
including Nvair Beylerian, whose grandfather Anoush Krikorian is
in the AFF archive, Ambassador and Mrs. John Evans, and Edward and
Pamela Avedisian.
A special video on J. Michael Hagopian was presented at the Columbia
Club lunch along with videos about the Armenian Genocide testimonies
archive. Armenian Film Foundation board member and filmmaker Carla
Garapedian announced that the AFF has completed the digitization
of the Hagopian's rare 16mm film collection, and she explained how
individual survivor interviews will be indexed and searchable online
via the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive.
"This is a new opportunity for Armenians," Garapedian asserted.
"Armenians have traditionally invested in the core infrastructure
of our communities - schools and churches. The Digital Archive is a
new kind of investment. It is about reaching out to the non-Armenian
community - to Americans and the international community who do not
know about the Armenian Genocide. It's about making these testimonies
accessible to the world."
The USC Shoah Foundation is actively engaged in an international
fund-raising campaign to ensure completion of the integration of the
Armenian testimonies so that they can be presented to the world in
time for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, in April 2015.
Shoah's Visual History Archive is the largest digital collection of
its kind in the world. The collection is available at 44 institutions
around the world, and approximately one million students, researchers,
teachers and lay people view the testimonies every year. In addition,
thousands of high school students across the country can view the
testimonies through IWitness, the USC Shoah Foundation's educational
website.
For additional information about the Armenian Genocide Testimonies
project, please contact Sylvia Moskovitz at the USC Shoah Foundation -
[email protected] or (213)740-4991.
http://www.armenianlife.com/2013/10/19/armenians-make-a-splash-in-new-york-at-shoah-gala-honoring-george-clooney/