Asbarez – Comedian Kev Orkian is so proud of his Armenian heritage, he’s on a mission to tell the world about his homeland and its talented people in an exciting new film‒Armenia Uncovered‒to be released in early 2018.
“The film, ‘The Promise’ tells the world about the Genocide and our history a century ago and it’s something we’ll never forget, but there’s another story waiting to be told and it’s about Armenia today!” said Kev. “I want to take viewers on a tour of our incredible country which was part of an ancient Armenian kingdom for thousands of years. We have such a dynamic culture, stunning scenery, a vibrant city nightlife, and the most generous and hospitable people on the planet and that needs to be told,” he added.
With an estimated 10 million Armenians in the diaspora and only a small percentage having visited Armenia, Kev wants to introduce his people to their homeland, by taking viewers on an hilarious ride across the country, to find out what makes Armenians so Armenian.
“We are one of the most fragmented populations on earth and we suffer from a bit of an identity crisis. I want to get to the bottom of some of the funny customs we engage in and show the world what a beautiful country we have and who knows, tourism could soon take off and that’s got to be great news for the people and the economy,” Kev said.
Kev will be joined on his travels by an extensive film crew as he meets taxi drivers, farmers, chefs, wine makers, pop stars, sport stars, super models, and an opera singer – you name it – if it’s good, Kev will uncover it.
“I want the world to know there’s a lot more to us than apricots and eyebrows,” he laughs.
“I’ve been told Armenia has more doctors per capita than any other country. We’re a highly skilled and educated nation with a booming IT industry and home to some of the smartest brains in the world. The MRI machine, the ATM machine and Colour TV are just some of the incredible inventions from Armenian minds and these stories need to be told,” he explained.
Kev has already interviewed several leading Amercian-Armenian artists like Sebu Simonian from the band Capital Cities, the hugely popular Tamar Kaprelian, and the legendary Armenchik.
“To hear these guys speak passionately about their homeland brought tears to my eyes,” Kev said.
But to appreciate everything great about Armenia today, according to Kev, viewers need to know about the country’s past.
“My great grandparents were killed in the Genocide and I don’t think any tourist should go to Armenia without visiting the Memorial and museum. I see this film as an awesome opportunity to continue to raise awareness for Genocide recognition around the world,” said Kev.
Another key story Kev wants to share, is that of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Republic.
“Besides Yerevan, we want to get out of the city and visit as many rural villages and towns as we can and if we’re lucky, we’d love to go all the way to Stepanakert – the most beautiful city in Artsakh,” he said.
A lot of work has already gone in to making the film and for the past year Kev has been busy producing a series of promo videos to raise awareness.
“One of the first promos we released online has reached over 1.3 million people, so I guess you could say there is definitely a huge interest out there,” Kev said.
Plans are now underway for Kev to return to Armenia in August to complete work on the film, with many Armenian celebrities and stories now confirmed.
To produce a world class documentary like this requires a lot of funding and Kev and his production team have made it to this point without any sponsorship.
“We wanted to make this film as independent and unbiased as possible and not fill it with unnecessary commercial content for the sake of it and for this reason we’ve decided to Crowd Fund it. Whatever we raise will go 100 per cent towards helping us cover the costs associated with flights, accommodation, film crews in America, England and Armenia and all of the expenses associated with editing, post production and promotion,” Kev said.