ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FILM THE PROMISE UNFAIRLY PANNED ON IMDB

October 28, 2016 By administrator

by: Sean Wist,

As a general rule of thumb, we here at JoBlo don’t report the latest in politics or religion. We report film news, we review the movies, and we do our best to deliver content that’s fun and insightful regarding the film medium. That’s what we love doing and that’s what we love sharing. Admittedly, sometimes that does cross over in the ever-controversial realm of politics and being that the founder of this movie fansite (Berge Garabedian aka JoBlo) is of Armenian heritage, he thought it was important to bring the following to light.

THE PROMISE is a film written and directed by Terry George (HOTEL RWANDA) that is set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. Starring Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, the film aims to deliver a compelling love story amidst the atrocities of the Armenian genocide which took place from 1915-1923 and resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million people. Similar to The Holocaust, there are a number of people and organizations who choose to ignore or suppress the events of the Armenian Genocide, including efforts from the Turkish government and the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

That leads us to IMDb. As of now, it looks as though there have only been 3 public screenings of THE PROMISE, one of which was at the Toronto International Film Festival (you can read our review of the film HERE). As of now, there are over 89,000 reviews on IMDb for THE PROMISE. To put that in perspective, there are only 7,000 reviews for the upcoming DOCTOR STRANGE – a movie that is far more anticipated by the general movie-going public. Furthermore, over 55,000 of those reviews are a 1-star rating.

Recognition for the Armenian Genocide has really only happened recently, and it’s painfully obvious that lower ratings are being given to a film, sight unseen, in order to suppress or sully a story that’s looking to shed some light on our past. There’s nothing wrong with disliking a film for what it is (we didn’t exactly think it was SCHINDLER’S LIST) but this kind of agenda gives us some insight into how flawed a ratings system can be, and to what lengths people will go to in order to take advantage of it. At the end of the day, as with everything else, it’s important for people to do their own research and think for themselves. We can’t improve as a people if we don’t acknowledge everything that’s come before, and if there’s any silver lining to be found with this ratings fiasco, it’s that it will educate more people on the events that occurred.

The trailer of the film “The Promise” 1 million views #ArmenianGenocide in the crosshairs of pro-Turkish online

October 28, 2016 By administrator

the-promise-film

The film on the Armenian Genocide “The Promise” in the crosshairs of pro-Turkish online

October 28, 2016 By administrator

the-promise-in-turkish-crosshairs “After the first screening of the film [the International Film Festival in Toronto in September 2016], there were already harvested 70 000 negative reviews on IMDB,” recalls Mike Medavoy, co-producer of “The Promise” in US magazine Variety . This deluge of fanciful visibly critics finally got the patience of the site team, Tuesday 25 October, which made a big household to keep only twenty opinions.

“Lies historical shameless”

“The Promise” addresses the issue of the Armenian genocide of 1915 through a love story between the characters played by Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac and French Charlotte Le Bon. A sensitive subject if ever there was in Turkey. Ankara denies ever since the term genocide and unleashed his anger against anyone who challenges the official version, according to which there were massacres that have made the Turkish and Armenian victims.

The film’s Irish director Terry George, to whom we must also “Hotel Rwanda”, has thus found in the crosshairs of an army of online supporters Turkish authorities. The tone of the comments that France 24 could consult before their disappearance, leaves little room for doubt. There is no question of cinematic qualities but, among others, of “blatant historical lies” and a feature film, “funded by the Armenian money to harm Turkey.”

Following on the link below

Friday, October 28, 2016,
Ara © armenews.com

Other information available: FRAN

Lily Vanilly: just created this template letter that people can send to IMDb, Pro-Turkey deniers trying to undermine film “The Promise”

October 26, 2016 By administrator

Lily Vanilly just created this template letter that people can send to IMDb

https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb

Pro-Turkey deniers trying to undermine #ArmenianGenocide film “The Promise”

Dear IMDb,

Yesterday I stumbled upon an article about a film called ‘The Promise’ and how it has received an unprecedented amount of negative reviews on your site. This film has been screened three times, one being at the Toronto Film Festival on September 11, 2016. And yet it has over 55,000 1-star reviews. How is that possible? This film is about a touchy subject for many because it centers around the time the Ottoman Empire carried out a genocide against the Armenian people. But since it is not possible that all these people have seen the film considering the simple fact that it has not been released anywhere yet, how can people leave negative reviews about a film they’ve never seen? In my humble opinion, it really questions your website’s credibility. This film was produced by someone who had a vision and his name was Kirk Kerkorian. He put many of his earnings on the line to put this movie into production. The director, Terry George, is one of the most renowned and respected in Hollywood. The cast is made up of countless brilliant actors. This film has quality written all over it and yet it is being unfairly rated down by people who haven’t seen it. It is a known fact that the Turkish government and people have been denying this genocide for over a century and are willing to go to great lengths for it to remain unrecognized. But to allow your website to become a weapon of Turkish denial and propaganda is not the standard that your company set for itself when IMDb was launched. Your website has always been a respectable portal of knowledge about all films of the world, so I am in real disbelief as to why a film that has not been released to the public is being defamed and downrated by Internet trolls. As I said, this whole situation just questions the validity of IMDb. Please do not allow this to keep happening. There are so many people who dedicated their time and effort to the making of this film. They spent millions of dollars to make it happen. This film tells a story of an event that the world needs to know about. And until people have the chance to see it with their own eyes and in turn draw their own conclusions, please do not allow this kind of spiteful rating to continue. Please do not let your site become another place of hateful political ranting. It only does you a great disservice.

Sincerely,

(Insert your name here)

Here IMDB Link

https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb

Pro-Turkey deniers trying to undermine #ArmenianGenocide film “The Promise”

October 25, 2016 By administrator

the-promis-turkish-blackmail Users of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) are voting politically on The Promise without having seen it, The Independent writes.

The Terry George-directed film stars Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac and is set during the final days of the Ottoman Empire, leading up to the Armenian Genocide that killed 1.5 million.

Despite having been screened to the public three times only, The Promise now has 86,704 ratings on IMDb, 55,126 of which are one-star and 30,639 of which are 10-star, with very few ratings falling anywhere in between. The majority of votes come from males outside the US.

It is IMDb’s policy not to interfere with user ratings, but many have called for the database to step in following the tide of negative ratings.

According to the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), pro-Turkey Armenian Genocide deniers have begun efforts to undermine the film, urging negative reviews and ratings on popular movie sites including IMDB, where over 80,000 ratings have been logged, most from outside Canada – the only venue where the film has been shown.

Armenian American billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s Armenian Genocide-era epic The Promise premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 11th to wide acclaim.

Armenian Genocide Finally Gets Its Due With the Film ‘The Promise’ – The Nation

October 15, 2016 By administrator

By Pietro A. Shakarian
Every year, on April 24, a solemn procession of men, women, and children commences in Yerevan, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Armenia. A sea of sad Armenian faces makes its way up to the hill of Tsitsernakaberd to the Armenian Genocide Memorial. It is here that every year the victims of one of the 20th century’s greatest crimes are quietly honored.
An ancient Christian country located just south of Russia and east of Turkey, Armenia has seen much suffering in its long history. However, of all the tragedies experienced by this small yet resilient nation, none compares to the enormity of the Armenian genocide of 1915. The genocide was committed by the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Possessed by a fanatical nationalism, the ruling Young Turk government accused its Christian Armenian subjects of sympathizing with the hated Russian enemy. What followed was the planned, systematic, and ruthless mass murder of as many as 1.5 million Armenian civilians.
“Of all the sufferers of the war,” wrote American diplomat Lewis Einstein inThe Nation in 1920, “none have endured more than the Armenians, victims less of its horrors than of the Turkish Government’s diabolical policy of murder.” To this day, Turkey continues to deny the historical reality of the genocide, despite overwhelming scholarly evidence. After over 100 years, the denial of this horrific crime has left the Armenian people in state of incomplete mourning.
Terry George’s forthcoming film The Promise captures the magnitude of this history in a way that no prior film on the genocide has done before. With its sweeping cinematography, powerful acting, and all-encompassing story, it is a truly epic work that effectively and humanely conveys the story of the tragedy.
BRINGING THE TRAGEDY TO THE SCREEN

Given Turkey’s continued stance of denial, making a film about the genocide has never been an easy task. Efforts to produce such a film in Hollywood were consistently blocked by the Turkish government. The most infamous instance of this was in the 1930s, when Ankara pressured MGM into abandoning plans for producing an adaptation of the novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, by Austrian-Jewish writer Franz Werfel. The novel was based on real events in which a small community of Armenians living in the mountains of Turkey’s present-day Hatay Province (on the Syrian border) defended themselves against deportation by Ottoman authorities.

Due to Werfel’s Jewish background, the novel was banned in Hitler’s Third Reich and subject to mass book burnings. The book eventually came to the attention of MGM’s Irving Thalberg, who bought the rights and decided to have it produced as a film. Pre-production began in 1934. Clark Gable was to be the star. However, due to pressure from the Turkish government (including anti-Semitic threats by Ankara against MGM as a “Jewish studio”), Louis B. Mayer canceled the project.

“There are numerous reasons why a film like that has not been made by Hollywood over the past century,” said Eric Esrailian, a UCLA doctor who played a major role in the production of The Promise. “It is not as though people have avoided spending money producing other films for all these years. All elements—from studios to producers to actors to crew—have felt pressure or intimidation in one form or another.”
There were indeed films produced about the genocide. The earliest of these,Ravished Armenia (1919), starred a survivor of the genocide, Aurora Mardiganian, and was produced by MGM at a time when Turkey did not have the clout to stop such productions. The box office proceeds went to the aid of Armenian orphans through the Near East Relief. Unfortunately, the film was eventually lost and only recently turned up as a fragmentary copy in post-Soviet Armenia.
The films that followed, such as Henrik Malyan’s Nahapet (1977), Atom Egoyan’s Ararat (2002), Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s Lark Farm (2007), and Fatih Akin’s The Cut (2014), were unable to reach a mass American audience. Distributed by Warner Bros., Elia Kazan’s America America (1963) vividly depicted the persecution of Armenians and Greeks under Ottoman rule. However, its main focus was the protagonist’s quest to emigrate to the United States.
Given this history, Armenian-American philanthropist Kirk Kerkorianbelieved that the time had come .for a Hollywood film on the genocide. Kerkorian, who passed away in 2015, first conceived of the idea in 2010, but it acquired momentum in 2012 when Kerkorian set up Survival Pictures. He entrusted his close friend Eric Esrailian to the task of bringing the story of the genocide to a general American audience, and enlisted veteran producers Mike Medavoy and William Horberg.

“We wanted to carefully find the right people—committed people with sincere intentions in their hearts—to come together,” said Esrailian. “Thankfully, we were successful, and the result has been everything we hoped for. In addition, we also grew together as a family of people, both in front of and behind the camera. The entire project is thanks to the courage and dedication of Kirk Kerkorian, and people around the world will be thanking him for generations to come.”

‘The Promise’ Filmmakers to be Recognized at ANCA-WR Annual Gala Banquet

September 27, 2016 By administrator

Special Behind-the-Scenes Film Clip to be Presented

LOS ANGELES—The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region announced that the filmmakers of the newly-completed Armenian Genocide-era film, “The Promise,” will attend and be recognized at the organization’s 2016 annual gala banquet to be held on Sunday, October 16 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
As a part of the program, a special presentation will be made which will include a short clip from the film with behind-the-scenes footage compiled especially for this event.

Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, “The Promise” is an epic human drama about a love triangle between Michael Boghosian, a brilliant medical student played by Golden Globe winning actor Oscar Isaac, the beautiful and sophisticated Armenian artist Ana played by Charlotte le Bon, and Chris Myers, a renowned American photo-journalist covering the war played by Oscar-winning actor Christian Bale. The film is also supported by an impressive cast of international actors. Their relationships unfold amidst the start of the Armenian Genocide, causing major upheaval of their lives and a struggle just to survive.

“It has long been the dream of every survivor and descendant of survivors to tell our story” said Kevin Matossian, production executive. “This is not only an important film for Armenians, but for every nation who has been unjustly persecuted. This is a human-rights story, that if untold, will simply repeat itself. We look forward to showing a special film clip to attendees of the ANCA-WR Gala, as this organization has consistently been at the forefront of the struggle for justice for the Armenian people.”

“The Promise” was directed by Academy Award-winner Terry George (Hotel Rwanda) and was written by Terry George and Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

Survival Pictures premiered the ground-breaking film at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, winning audience acclaim and accolades, mounting great anticipation and enthusiasm for potential viewers all over the world, and creating an expectation that upon wide release, the Armenian Genocide will finally be memorialized for a mainstream audience of both Armenians and non-Armenians. This international spotlight has already begun to shine.

Even before its festival premiere, “The Promise” has already become the international target of Genocide denialists and proponents of censorship who have initiated an online campaign to vote in droves to bring its iMDb rating down. Many celebrities, from Tyra Banks to Cher to Pharrell Williams and others have posted online tweets and comments generating excitement about the film to tens of millions of their followers. The sheer act of seeing the film through to completion has already been overwhelmingly successful in raising awareness, but much work remains to prevent the ongoing censorship efforts.

The ANCA has also called upon its grassroots activists to affirm the truth by breaking down walls of denial and opening the path to justice through this cinematic work of art by countering the efforts of Turkish propagandists, voting to maintain the film’s high stature and rating, and raising awareness among elected officials and circles of influence. Unlike the past when the Turkish government successfully blocked the production of an MGM epic film in 1934 based on Franz Werfel’s critically acclaimed novel, “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh,” Armenians of today are well-equipped and have gained enough experience and insight to overcome even the most well-funded Turkish lobbyists and denialist campaigns.

“The production of this unprecedented film was certainly a long journey filled with many challenges and obstacles, but with the late Kirk Kerkorian’s unflailing vision, resources and philanthropy, and the persistent dedication, commitment and sacrifice led by producer Eric Esrailian and his team to bring it to fruition, Armenians finally have the ability to reach millions with a message of truth and survival even from the ashes of Genocide. We are truly grateful to the filmmakers for standing strong in the face of a well-funded denialist campaign which has only just begun, and we pledge to stand together with them to ensure that this film fulfills its goal of engaging the public in our national story. After decades of work to secure recognition and justice for the Armenian Genocide, we are confident that an epic film of this stature will result in great strides for our Cause,” stated ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian, Esq.

The 2016 ANCA WR Annual Gala Banquet will be held on Sunday, October 16, 2016 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The main event will begin at 4:30p.m.with cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction. A three-course dinner will follow at 6:00 p.m. with a powerful program and presentation of the awards.

In the last month, the organization also announced that it will honor California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson with the Man of the Year Award, Varoujan Koundkajian posthumously with the Legacy Award, California State Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian with the Legislator of the Year Award, Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr and the Kerr family with the Humanitarian Award, and German Parliament Member Cem Ozdemir and the German Bundestag with the Freedom Award.

Individuals interested in attending and sponsoring the Annual Gala Banquet are encouraged to purchase tickets online at www.ancawrgala.org or call (818) 839-1918. To obtain corporate sponsorship information visit ancawr.org/gala/sponsorship or call (818) 500-1919. For up to the minute updates on the event follow ANCA Western Region on social media: facebook.com/ANCAWesternRegion, Twitter and Instagram: ANCA_WR

The ANCA-WR Gala Banquet represents the single largest annual gathering of Armenian American public policy leaders throughout the western United States, and is attended by over 1,000 prominent Members of Congress, state legislators and officials, community leaders, and many of the organization’s strongest activists and generous donors from California, Nevada, Arizona, and throughout the western United States.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

Filmmaker Terry George: Denial of Armenian Genocide justification for new slaughter “the Promise movie”

September 13, 2016 By administrator

tery-armenian-genocide Filmmaker Terry George, director of the Promise movie, believes that denial of the Armenian Genocide became justification for other slaughters.

During a press conference following the premiere of the Promise film, Terry George spoke of political influence of the Turkish government and denial of the event amid strategic importance.

“For me and for the world this is not a question did it happen or if it happened, vast majority of historical studies firmly established this was a planned attempt to wipe Armenian nation,” he said.
The first screening of “The Promise,” a movie about Armenian Genocide, took place Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Terry George, actors Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac, and Charlotte Le Bon as well as famous musician Serj Tankian, who is lead singer of the world-renowned American Armenian rock band System of a Down (SOAD) and composer of the soundtrack of this movie, “shone” on the red carpet event for the premiere of “The Promise.”

Oscar Isaac wears forget-me-not at Armenian Genocide film premiere at Toronto festival

September 12, 2016 By administrator

Oscar Isaac wears forget-me-not

The first screening of “The Promise,” a movie about Armenian Genocide, took place Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Isaac was wearing a forget-me-not, the symbol of Armenian Genocide Centennial in 2015, at the first screening of this film, which was shot under the patronage of the late American Armenian billionaire, Kirk Kerkorian.

In “The Promise,” 37-year-old famous American actor Oscar Isaac plays the part of the humble Armenian pharmacist, Michael.

Canada, “The Promise” World Premiere at Toronto Film Festival #ArmenianGenocide

August 21, 2016 By administrator

The world premiere of the film “The Promise”, the theme of the Armenian Genocide produced by Company Pictures Survival of the late Kirk Kerkorian will take place at Toronto International Film Festival film in September.

The festival also announced that the film “The Promise” will be presented at a gala opening weekend on September 11th.

The film, which was directed by Terry George the award-winning director of the film “Hotel Rwanda” has headliners Oscar Issac, Christian Bale and Charlotte Le Bon.

“Michael, a humble Armenian apothecary, leaves her village to study medicine in the cosmopolitan city of Constantinople. Chris, an American photojournalist who came into the country to cover part geopolitics, is related to Ana, an Armenian artist educated in Paris. When Michael meets Ana, heritage creates an attraction that leads to a love rivalry between the two men. After the Turks have joined the war on the German side, the Ottoman Empire turned violently against its own ethnic minorities. Despite the conflict, everyone has to find a way to survive – even when monumental events affecting their lives, “the synopsis of the film on the website of TIIF.

Sources said the film “The Promise” will be in theaters in December.

Terry George, who was nominated for an Oscar for best director for “Hotel Rwanda,” co-wrote “The Promise” with another Oscar-nominated screenwriter Robin Swicord. In March 2013, George was the guest of the State Pedagogical University of Armenia, where the Irish filmmaker compared the Armenian genocide in 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The shooting of the film, which also depicts, Charlotte Le Bon, James Cromwell, Marwan Kenzari, Jean Reno, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Angela Sarafyan, among others, ended in Europe last fall and is in post-production.

After the last shot vued u film was produced, co-manager of Survival Pictures and producer of the film, Eric Esrailian described to Asbarez newspaper an email in which he said that “Kirk would be proud,” referring to Kirk Kerkorian died June 16, 2015 in Los Angeles. “It makes all that hard work even more special.”