PanARMENIAN.Net
`The Morgenthau Story’ documentary to be screened in Belmont
01.11.2008 15:50 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (NAASR) will host a screening of The Morgenthau Story, a new
documentary by Massachusetts-based filmmaker and artist Apo Torosyan’s
at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, at the NAASR Center, 395 Concord
Ave. in Belmont. The event will be co-sponsored by Mashtots Chair in
Armenian Studies at Harvard University and NAASR, and Mashtots
Professor James R. Russell will provide an introduction to the film,
wickedlocal.com reports.
The Morgenthau Story tells the story of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau’s
commitment to helping humanity. From 1913 to 1916, he served as
U.S. Ambassador in Constantinople, and with the beginning of the
Armenian Genocide in the spring of 1915 he appealed without success to
the Ottoman leaders to stop the killings. In 1923, during the
aftermath of the genocide and expulsion of Armenians, Greeks, and
Assyrians, he helped save thousands of lives by successfully leading
the Refugee Relief Committee in Greece.
Torosyan interweaves the story of Morgenthau with interviews with
three of his descendants: grandsons Henry Morgenthau III and Robert
M. Morgenthau, and great-granddaughter Dr. Pamela Steiner.
Torosyan was born in Istanbul, Turkey, to Armenian and Greek
parents. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Istanbul’s
Academy of Fine Arts. His previous films include Bread Series, Water,
The Gates, Witnesses, Discovering My Father’s Village: Edincik, and
Voices. He is an active member of the Boston Printmakers and the
International Association of Genocide Scholars.
Torosyan has had many solo and group art shows all over the U.S. and
Europe, and his work has appeared in private and corporate collections
in Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, Armenia, Canada, and the U.S. One of
his works, `My Father’s Letter,’ 1991, was selected by the Museum of
Modern Art at Tonneins, Bordeaux, France, for its permanent
collection. His `Bread Series’ is also in the permanent collection of
the Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown, MA, and the
Flaten Art Museum in Northfield, MN.