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'Straw Dolls': A Film about the Armenian Genocide

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  • 'Straw Dolls': A Film about the Armenian Genocide

    'Straw Dolls': A Film about the Armenian Genocide

    By Contributor on January 16, 2015 in Books & Art


    LOS ANGELES--New Jersey native and filmmaker Jon Milano is honoring his
    connection to the Armenian community with "Straw Dolls," a film that
    focuses on the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

    "Having grown up with such a strong Armenian community in New Jersey,
    this is a subject that is close to my heart," Milano said. "Your
    friends have influence on you, whether you want to admit it or not.
    And though I wasn't born into the culture you certainly adapt and
    understand the history."
    Milano recently detailed the two-year process of producing and
    directing the film. "It is only controversial when people make it
    controversial. It is true that the Turkish government has not
    recognized this atrocity; however, we did not set out to make a film
    to protest the Turkish government but rather tell a story that
    Hollywood is unwilling to tell."

    Milano said he wanted to make sure that the film was 100 percent
    historically accurate and that thestories he told were true. "We took
    very little creative liberties with the film, knowing full well that
    when we make this film, it must be rooted in truth. Hence why the film
    took two years of research."

    The research uncovered hundreds of journals, photographs, survivor
    interviews, and academic books. And when Douglas Kalajian, author of
    Stories My Father Never Finished Telling, became involved, the team
    was able to uncover rare stories that stood alone among the
    atrocities. "We wanted to find stand-alone stories, slices of a much
    larger tale," Milano said.

    The film stars award-winning Iranian-Armenian actress Mary Apick and
    Marco Khan(ian) ("10,000 BC" (2008) and "God's Not Dead" (2014)), with
    a full ensemble of young Armenian actors. Once the cast was secured,
    Milano explained, finding Armenia in Southern California was the next
    task at hand. "We didn't anticipate it to be an easy feat, but we also
    didn't expect it to take as long as it did." After 36 location scouts
    encompassing all of Los Angeles County, the team expanded its search
    north of the city.

    "We had toured numerous movie ranches in the area, but everyone of
    them either didn't meet our needs or out-weighed our budget. But then
    we found it, and in Simi Valley of all places." The location is not a
    stranger to Hollywood, as it was home to Quentin Tarantino's "Django
    Unchained" (2012) and "Saving Mr. Banks" (2013). "Needless to say we
    felt in good hands."
    Photography of the film was completed in November 2014 and is slated
    to premiere in Los Angeles and Yerevan on April 24, 2015.

    "Regardless of the outcome, we made this film not only for ourselves
    but for the Armenian people," Milano said.

    http://armenianweekly.com/2015/01/16/straw-dolls/

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