View source for Two Cats Productions: The Armenian Genocide

New Documentary on the Armenian Genocide Premieres on PBS on April 17, 2006

NEW YORK -  [http://www.twocatstv.com/armenian-genocide/ "The Armenian Genocide"] documentary is is the complete story of the [[Armenian Genocide|first Genocide of the 20th century]] - when over a million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman [[Turks]] during [[World War I]].

This unprecedented and powerful one-hour documentary, scheduled to air April 17 at 10pm on PBS, (check local listings for possible changes) was written, directed and produced by Emmy Award-winning producer [[Andrew Goldberg]] of [http://www.twocatstv.com/ Two Cats Productions], in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Featuring interviews with the leading experts in the field such as Pulitzer Prize-winning author [[Samantha Power]] and [[New York Times]] best-selling author, [[Peter Balakian]], this film features never-before-seen historical footage of  the events and key players of  one  of  the  greatest  untold stories of the 20th century.

[http://www.twocatstv.com/armenian-genocide/ "The Armenian Genocide"] is narrated by Julianna Margulies and includes historical narrations by Ed Harris, Natalie Portman, Laura Linney and Orlando Bloom, among others. "What the word 'Genocide' connotes is a systematic campaign of destruction.  If you simply call the horrors of 1915 'crimes against humanity' or 'atrocities,' it doesn't fully convey just how methodical this campaign of slaughter  and deportation really  was,  and  I  think that's  why historians look at the record and they really can come to no other conclusion but that this  word,  Genocide,  applies  to this methodical campaign of destruction," says Samantha Power. 

Filmed in the US, France, Germany, Belgium, Turkey and Syria, the  program features  discussions  with  Kurdish  and Turkish citizens  in modern-day  [[Turkey]]  who  speak  openly  about the stories told to them by their parents and grandparents. To this day, Turkey denies the Genocide occurred and maintains this position steadfastly.  The film includes testimony by former Turkish  diplomat  Gunduz  Aktan to US lawmakers in the year  2000,  where he explains the official Turkish position on the  issue.  "The Turkish people  firmly believe  that what happened to the Armenian people was not Genocide," Aktan says. "

As Turkey seeks to join the European Union, 90 years later, this film can give people a much better understanding of why this  issue  is such  an important  and  current  part of the international conversation  about Turkey's role in the world today," said Goldberg.

PBS filmed a 25-minute follow up panel discussion to follow the airing of this documentary that received tremendous criticism and a flood of protests and petitions against it from the public and members of the US Congress. The follow up segment titled "[[Armenian Genocide: Exploring the Issues]]" eventually only aired in 2 of the 9 major U.S. markets where the documentary was aired.

[http://www.twocatstv.com/ Two Cats Productions] is a documentary production company in [[New York City]] led by Andrew Goldberg. His television credits include PBS, ABC News, E!, CNN,  and  countless others.  Goldberg and Two Cats' recent documentary productions include, "A Yiddish World Remembered" for PBS which won an Emmy in 2002, and "The Armenians, A Story of Survival," which  aired  on PBS stations nationally in 2002 and was awarded the CINE Golden Eagle. 

Major underwriters for the documentary are:  John and Judy Bedrosian, The [[Lincy Foundation]], The Avanessians Family Foundation, and The Manoogian-Simone Foundation.


==External Links==

* [http://www.twocatstv.com/ Two Cats Productions]
* [http://www.twocatstv.com/armenian-genocide/ Two Cats Productions - The Armenian Genocide]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3r35ycecjk The Armenian Genocide Trailer]
* [http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2006/03/coming_soon_to_viewers_like_you_the_armenian.html PBS Ombudsman Column]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/arts/television/17stan.html/ NY Times Review]
* [http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/display.php?id=15 Corporation for Public Broadcasting Report]