Press Release
‘Motherland’s’ Yerevan Premiere Brought Out Elected Officials, Dignitaries, Celebrities, and Artsakh Heroes
‘Motherland,’ which HuffPost’s Thom Senzee called ‘Most Anticipated Documentary Film of 2022,’ by Vic Gerami, had its Armenian premiere on Saturday, October 29, at the Grand Hotel Yerevan
For Immediate Release: (Yerevan, Armenia) – Over one hundred guests, including elected officials, dignitaries, celebrities, and veterans from the invasion of Artsakh, attended the premiere of Vic Gerami’s documentary feature film, ‘Motherland,’ on Saturday, October 29, 2022, at the Grand Hotel Yerevan. They were there to support the film that brings attention to Azerbaijan’s and Turkey’s brutal invasion of Artsakh in 2020, the massacre of 5,000+ indigenous Armenians, and the two nations’ ongoing campaign of hate, violence, and disinformation.
Director, producer and writer Vic Gerami opened the program with a moment of silence for the 5,000+ Armenians martyred in 2020. The Republic of Armenia’s High Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs, Zareh Sinanyan, and his wife, Lori Sinanyan, took a break from the Global Armenian Summit to attend the event. Mr. Sinanyan gave a passionate and heartfelt speech before the curtain. Other high-profile guests included Armenia’s former Justice Minister and Human Rights Defender, Artak Zeynalyan, Republic of Artsakh’s Permanent Representative to the Republic of Armenia, Sergey Ghazaryan, Founder and General Manager of the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival, Harutyun Khachatryan, celebrated poet, Ruben Hakhverdian, activist, Shahen Harutyunyan, Embassy of Switzerland in Armenia’s Deputy Head of Mission, Werner Thut-Shimo, World Bank’s and American University of Armenia’s, Dr. Irina Ghaplanyan, American University of Armenia’s President, Dr. Karin Markides, and acclaimed attorney and Knights of Vartan’s Jake Bournazian.
‘Motherland’ is an ‘Official Selection’ in fifty-four (54) film festivals and has won thirty-two (32) awards.
The event’s media sponsor was the Media Association, founded by Hayk Markosyan.
Yelaket News Agency covered the invitation-only event, and Yerevan News produced a thorough report. While in Armenia, Gerami gave interviews to Armenia’s national TV Network, 1in.am’s Zhirayr Voskanyan, and CivilNet’s Emilio Cricchio.
Produced and directed by Los Angeles-based Armenian American journalist and activist Vic Gerami, ‘Motherland’ is a new feature-length documentary film about the genocidal assault and the violent ethnic cleansing unleashed on September 27, 2020, by Azerbaijan and Turkey on the Republic of Artsakh. The 113-minute documentary film focuses unwavering attention on the coordinated, systematic, and wholly unprovoked genocidal attack and ethnic cleansing against the Armenians of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh.
‘Motherland exposes the unprovoked genocidal attack and ethnic cleansing that nations of Azerbaijan and Turkey unleashed on the independent Republic of Artsakh in 2020 and massacred more than 5,000 indigenous Armenians while world leaders watched in deafening silence,’ said Vic Gerami. He added, ‘This largely ignored crime against humanity against Russia’s neighbor was partly Putin’s dry-run and a precursor to his brutal invasion of Ukraine.’
‘Bringing my film home to my Motherland was crucial given the current circumstances. This is where it all started. More so than its high-profile Los Angeles premiere at the Raleigh Studios Hollywood, the special Glendale screening sponsored by Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian, Senator Anthony Portantino, and Assemblymember Laura Friedman, and the Congressional screening in Washington DC, this was the most meaningful and emotional screening,’ said Gerami.
He added, ‘Having the veteran heroes I had interviewed for the film sit in the audience and watch the film was both nerve-racking and gratifying.’
Click here for photos from the premiere.
Download the complete Press Kit, watch the film’s trailer, and visit the film’s website and IMDB page.
Next, ‘Motherland’ will have its Canadian premiere at the Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto on Saturday, November 12.
Vic Gerami is available for interviews. You can contact him at 310.880.8563 or vic@thebluntpost.com.
About Vic Gerami
Vic Gerami is an award-winning journalist, columnist, media commentator, and the host of his prime-time headline news + politics radio program THE BLUNT POST with VIC (TBPV) on Independent + Progressive Radio KPFK 90.7 FM (Pacifica Network). Vic is also the editor + publisher of The Blunt Post.
Today reaching national and international audiences, Gerami first built a foundation of knowledge and skills by learning the media industry during his years at Frontiers Magazine, followed by positions at LA Weekly and Voice Media Group.
Gerami’s radio program, TBPV, covers national, regional, and local headline news, politics, and current events, and Gerami offers analysis and commentary. He also interviews a high-profile member of Congress or other high-profile public figures on each show. His recent guests include Congressman Adam Schiff, Senator Bob Menendez, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Governor Howard Dean, Congresswoman Katie Porter, Congressman Brad Sherman, Congressman Mike Levin, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Judy Chu, LA District Attorney George Gascon, among many others. You can listen to all the interviews here.
Gerami is also a contributor to some of the most prominent publications in the nation, including Windy City Times, Bay Area Reporter, Armenian Mirror-Spectator, The Advocate, The Immigrant Magazine, GoWeHo, Destination Luxury, OUT Traveler, The Fight, and among others.
Gerami founded the Truth And Accountability League (TAAL), a 501©3 non-profit organization that advocates for Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia. TAAL monitors & addresses Armenophobia, extremism & bigotry around the globe on the level of media, including social media, public policy, academia, and intelligentsia.
The Wall Street Journal featured Gerami as a “leading gay activist” in its landmark 2008 coverage of opposition to Proposition 8, the ballot measure that for years denied same-sex couples in California the freedom to marry. In addition to his years of volunteer work as a leading advocate for marriage equality, Gerami served as a Planning Committee member for the historic Resist March in 2017.
In 2015, Gerami was referenced in the landmark Supreme Court civil rights case, Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Court held in a 5–4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Please click here for more information about Vic Gerami.
Instagram: @vicgerami
Facebook: facebook.com/vic.gerami
Twitter: @vicgerami
About the Media Association
Founded by Hayk Markosyan, a specialist in strategic communication and information policy, Media Association (MA) is a vast corporation working in the information sector, which includes a news agency, a printed magazine, a press club, online TV, and several information sites. The company has implemented several large projects.
The MA team, together with the Armenian Information Center (AIC), organized the IHC ARMENIA 2019 international conference dedicated to the surgery of the first hernia and the anterior abdominal wall in Armenia, which was attended by 150 surgeons, clinical residents, as well as from Armenia and 20 countries worldwide.
In cooperation with the Cultural Revival Foundation, the MA team implemented the entire information policy of the Armenian National Music Treasury project, from articles, videos, and films to programs. Komitas Vardapet's dream came true. For the first time, the series of folk songs, A Thousand and One Game, was published with notarized melodies, in which 100 songs were recorded by Reverend Komitas from Western and Eastern Armenia provinces. The team has also shot historical, cultural, and educational films with several ministries of the Republic of Armenia and the AIC.
MA and Juniper Association of Psychologists and Arminologists jointly implemented a new project with the financial support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia under the title Tomarai Tsisashar.
The company initiated and published the MEDIFELED Armenian-American medical journal. This medical platform aims to present current health issues, innovative suggestions, and advice. It is a platform where different health sector specialists offer their experience—discussing the treatment of various diseases, correct diagnosis, and healthy lifestyle, including medical and other services.
