The Genocide in Me

A film by Araz Artinian

This intensely personal film traces the filmmaker’s search for identity within the culture of her Armenian parents and in the context of the larger multicultural society in which she lives. Is it her responsibility to carry on the traditions of her forbears who bear the scars of the Genocide of 1915? Through her story one realizes how the legacy of history has impacted on a people.

Those Armenians who survived the catastrophic persecution by the Ottoman Turks became part of a diaspora. The Artinians settled in Canada and fiercely maintained their identity as Armenians. Araz’ father started an Armenian school in Montreal, the Armenian language was spoken at home, and the conscience of the people demanded that the Turks acknowledge the brutality with which they killed one and a half million Armenians and drove out an equal number. When Araz journeys to Eastern Turkey to search for evidence of her people’s tragic history she finds that the guide books never mention the Armenians who once lived there.The Turks have been educated to minimize and explain away the Genocide.

The Genocide in Me weaves together archival footage and moving interviews with elderly survivors to create a deeply felt portrayal of a holocaust that needs universal recognition.

53 min. Video or DVD. Sale $295. Video rental $85.

Indianapolis International Film Festival, 2007
Yorkton Short film and Video Festival, 2006
Multiculturalism Award, Prix Gemeaux (Montreal), 2006
World Peace Festival (Amnesty International) Vancouver, 2006

"A stunning, truly beautiful and deeply affecting film." Atom Egoyan

NEW, This intensely personal film traces the filmmaker’s search for identity within the culture of her Armenian parents and in the context of the larger multicultural society in which she lives.Weaving together archival footage and interviews with elderly survivors of the Genocide, it creates a deeply- felt portrayal of a holocaust that the Turks deny.