Closing Night Awards Gala Honorees

This year’s special honorees include Oscar-winning Irish screenwriter and director Terry George, music icon Chris Cornell (in memoriam), acclaimed actor Carl Weathers, and Oscar-winning screenwriter Alexander Dinelaris. Awards  also be presented to winning filmmakers for their films in the best feature, best documentary, and best short categories.

Carl Weathers, the beloved actor best known for his portrayal of Apollo Creed in the Rocky series, The recipient of Arpa’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also starred in films such as Predator, Action Jackson, Hurricane Smith, Happy Gilmore and Little Nicky. The former professional football player’s most recent project was directing John Patrick Stanley’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.

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YouTube Video Unforgettable 20th Closing Night Special Awards Gala Arpa Film Festival INTRO 2017

YouTube Video Full Coverage Arpa International Film Festival 20th Special Awards Gala Banquet Part 1

YouTube Video Full Coverage Arpa International Film Festival 20th Special Awards Gala Banquet Part 2

Video Full Coverage Arpa International Film Festival 20th Special Awards Gala Banquet Part 3

The Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award, named after the German soldier/medic who was stationed in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, where he witnessed the onslaught of the Armenian Genocide. The photographs he took documenting the plight of the Armenians, today comprises the core of witness images of the Genocide. In the years following the end of World War I, Wegner also voiced his opposition against the anti-Semitic policies of the Nazis, who later persecuted him.

Arpa’s coveted Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award, presented each year to a filmmaker whose work contributes toward the struggle for social consciousness and human rights, Terry George this year recipient (In the name of the Father, Some Mother’s Son, Hotel Rwanda, The Shore, The Promise) in recognition of his extensive body of films that have shed light on the situation in his native Northern Ireland, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Armenian Genocide.

Arpa International Film Festival  presenting this year’s Lifetime Legacy Award to music icon Chris Cornell, whose life came to a tragic end early this year.
Chris Cornell, best known as the lead vocalist for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave, as well as the founder and frontman of Temple of the Dog, was also a human rights activist committed to the world refugee crisis and the despair of vulnerable children. The Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter’s last solo release was the charity single “The Promise” written for the motion picture of the same name. Cornell Family, along with special friends, present to accept the Award.