Author: Jack Hunanian

By Curt Schleier

The director Atom Egoyan was in a good mood. And why not? He was comfortably ensconced in a posh Los Angeles hotel the morning after his latest film, “Remember,” received an enthusiastic reception at a Museum of Tolerance screening.

But his buzz was soon tempered as we discussed the film and I told him: “I can’t write that. And no, I can’t write that, either.”

The difficulty is that “Remember” is more than a thriller about an older survivor hunting the Nazi who killed his family. It is a film that also offers a “Sixth Sense,” “I see dead people” surprise, and some of what Egoyan told me gave away the whole movie.

But, he claimed, he can’t help himself. “I get so excited about the conversations people have watching the movie,” he said. “You have the tough job of trying to present it in a way that reveals nothing.”

Actually, no. Describing the film is not at all difficult. What is hard, though, is figuring out how it got made in the first place.

Zev Gutman (Christopher Plummer) lives in a nursing home. He suffers from dementia, and his wife passed away just a week ago. After the last shiva, his friend Max (Martin Landau) reminds him of a promise Zev made sometime in the past. When his wife died, Zev pledged he’d go out in search of, and kill, the sadistic Auschwitz guard who’d murdered their families. The guard had escaped and was living under the assumed identity of John Kurlander.

Max, confined to a wheel chair and on oxygen, can’t go himself. But, although weak of body, he’s strong of mind. And he’s written step-by-step instructions for Zev to follow when his memory fails. He’s also included a wad of cash for Zev’s use as he searches North America for the correct John Kurlander of several possibilities on Max’s list. There are adventures along the way: He’s almost caught at a Canadian border crossing; he runs into an anti-Semitic state trooper, and he murders someone.

The film is tautly written, and performances are excellent.

Still, you don’t have to be a Hollywood insider to figure out why “Remember” was not a likely candidate for the silver screen. Most obviously, it features old people. Not that old-people movies don’t occasionally break through — witness “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” — but typically those films are uplifting. This is a Holocaust movie.

There’s another, perhaps more subtle, factor at play. Egoyan, 55, was nominated for two Academy Awards — best adapted screenplay and best director — for one of his early films, “The Sweet Hereafter.” Many of his subsequent films did well, too, including “Chloe,” his 2009 erotic thriller.

But since then, well, not so much. His last two films, “The Captive” and “Devil’s Knot,” barely raised critical or financial blips. So logic — or at least my logic — would dictate that you look for a property with a greater chance of financial success.

Not Egoyan: “You have to go with the projects that are unique. I’ve always been drawn to projects that have some element of risk. Here in my hotel room in Los Angeles, I look out the window and I see billboards for films based on tried-and-true formulas. When you are seized by a project that is original, telling a story that hasn’t been told before, that is entertaining and provocative and will lead to a discussion, of course you will take that.”

But there are a couple of additional elements that led to Egoyan’s decision. One was timing: If he didn’t tell this story now, it might never be told. The Nazis and their hunters are dying, and the memory of their atrocities is fading.

Egoyan pointed to the trial of Reinhold Hanning, the SS sergeant on trial in Germany for complicity in the death of 170,000 people at Auschwitz-Birkenau. He is 94, and all the witnesses are in their 90s as well. So this may be the last significant Nazi trial.

Timing also became a factor in the casting. Maximilian Schell (one of the stars of “Judgment at Nuremberg”) was hired to play a role, but he died before filming began. A veteran German actor took ill and was unable to take part.

But perhaps the most important reason for Egoyan tackling this project is his affinity for the material. He was born in Egypt of Armenian parents. He was named Atom in honor of the first nuclear power plant in that country. His sister’s birth name was Molecule.

“That was later changed to Eve, so we became Atom and Eve, so we stood out like a sore thumb,” he said.

In 1962, the rise of Arab nationalism in Egypt, where the Armenian community was targeted, forced his parents to leave. They ended up in Victoria, British Columbia, where, like many first-generation immigrants, Egoyan felt out of place.

“We were the only Armenian family there. I was always aware of being an outsider. I wanted nothing more than to assimilate. There was nothing that gave me a sense of pride [in being Armenian]. I wanted to avoid and escape from that.

“That changed when I went to university and met other Armenian students and became active in the movement to figure out what we are going to do with this history. I became consumed by that.”

Egoyan’s paternal grandparents were survivors of the genocide, a genocide that has never been acknowledged by the Ottoman Empire or Turkey. “That’s why this story [‘Remember’] had such a strong appeal to me,” Egoyan explained. “It was about the denial of justice. It is what Max feels. He’s at the end of his life, and he feels this sense of rage, this sense of injustice.”

He notes that, growing up, “I probably knew more about the Holocaust than the Armenian genocide.” But the knowledge of it “was buried inside me, because the sense of trauma was transmitted to me in some way. And that’s why I was drawn to this film.”

 

 

 

The European Union unequivocally supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group toward the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict on the basis of the Madrid Principles proposed by the Co-Chairs, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said at a joint press conference with visiting High Representative of the ‪‎European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica‪ Mogherini. Summing up the results of the High Representative to Armenia, Minister Nalbandian said Yerevan and Brussels share the opinion that the maintenance of the status quo is in no one’s interest.

“The non-constructive steps targeted at aggravating the situation, the attempts to distort the negotiation process, the refusal to create a mechanism of investigation of border incidents and the belligerent rhetoric contribute to the maintenance of the status quo,” Edward Nalbandian stated.

Federica‪ Mogherini noted, in turn, that the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict is a priority for the EU, and added that it should be solved exceptionally in a peaceful way in line with the norms of international law. The High Representative reiterated the European Union’s support for the Minsk Group efforts and commended the recent steps targeted at easing of tensions. “It’s necessary to refrain from bellicose rhetoric and growth of violence, which are not conducive to the peaceful settlement process,” she said.

Speaking about the relations with the European Union, Minister Nalbandian said the establishment of strong partnership benefits not only the two patties, but also the region as a whole. “Armenia is ready to reinforce and expand the comprehensive cooperation in all spheres of reciprocal interest,” Edward Nalbandian said.

Impressed by her first visit to Armenia, Federica‪ Mogherini said the EU wants to be a good partner. “This cooperation is a testament to the fact that the EU is a primary trade partner for Armenia even at times of hardship; it is the first investor in Armenia and the first grant provider. But it’s not only about money,” Mogherini said.

At a meeting in Yerevan the Armenian Foreign Minister and the EU High Representtaive discussed the situation in the Middle East, and namely Syria, the mobilization of the efforts of the international community in their joint fight against terrorism.

“Armenia has provided refuge to about 20 thousand Syrian refugees, thus being the third in Europe with the number of migrants hosted,” the Minister said and added that “Armenia appreciates the possible EU assistance in that direction.”

The implementation of the agreement on Iran’ nuclear program was also on the agenda of the talks, Edward Nalbandian said. To conclude with, the Armenian Foreign Minister stressed that “the Armenia-EU relations are on a high level and the perspectives are promising.”

On 1 March Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

The meeting addressed a number of issues related to the situation along the contact line between Nagorno Karabagh and Azerbaijan armed forces.

Massis Post – Four outstanding scholars and researchers will speak at “From Musa Dagh to the Warsaw Ghetto: Armenian and Jewish Armed Resistance to Genocide,” on Thursday, March 31, 2016, at 8:00 p.m. at Harvard University, Science Center Auditorium D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA.

The featured speakers are Eric Bogosian, actor, playwright, and author of Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot That Avenged the Armenian Genocide; Dr. Deborah Dwork, Rose Professor of Holocaust History and Director, Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University; Dr. Dikran Kaligian, Managing Editor, Armenian Review, and author of Armenian Organization and Ideology Under Ottoman Rule, 1908-1914; and Dr. James R. Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University. Marc A. Mamigonian, Director of Academic Affairs at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), will serve as moderator.

This special symposium is co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University, the Mashtots Chair in Armenian Studies at Harvard University, and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served during an intermission.

Professor Salo Baron famously bemoaned what he called the “lachrymose” approach to Jewish history—a focus on powerlessness, homelessness, victimhood, and catastrophe. As the study of the Holocaust has developed we know that the image of the Jews of Europe as sheep to the slaughter is at best inaccurate. There were many instances of organized resistance (ghetto fighters and forest partisans), and of retaliation (the killing of SS prisoners) at the end of World War II. The same situation obtains for the study of the Armenian Genocide of 1915: as well as exploring the events and commemorating the martyrs, we now know much more than before about self-defense (at Van, for instance) and retribution (Operation Nemesis).

The Armenian Genocide was a precursor to the Holocaust: the Nazis admired both the Ottoman “final solution” of the Armenian Question and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s subsequent corporate nationalist régime, which completed that process and retroactively cleansed the historical record. In the interwar years and during the Holocaust, Jews knew of the Armenians’ fate and compared it to their own, even drawing inspiration during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, Franz Werfel’s novel about a desperate act of Armenian self-defense a generation before.

Although there are many affinities between Armenians and Jews there are also historical and present geo-political factors that divide them. The conference is intended not only to shed light on the modern historical affinities, but to bring students, faculty, and community members into a positive dialogue about the future. The resistance of under-armed and outnumbered civilians to the overwhelming force of totalitarian states with genocidal ideologies also raises important questions about the relation of the individual to the system; the nature of the rule of law, and of international relations; strategies for overcoming conformity, passivity, and fear; and the parameters of human moral responsibility. All of these are as immediate now as they were in the two fateful conflicts of the past century.

Photo: ChinaFotoPress

Beijing has overtaken New York as the city with the highest number of billionaires for the first time, a new report by China-based firm Hurun says, the BBC reports.

A total of 100 billionaires are now living in the Chinese capital, compared with 95 in New York, the report said.

Shanghai, China’s centre of commerce, came in fifth place.

Hurun, which tracks wealth in China, has released an annual Global Rich List for the past five years measuring billionaires’ wealth in US dollars.

It found that Beijing had welcomed 32 new billionaires since last year, allowing it to vault past New York which it calculated only saw four new billionaires.

Overall, China has overtaken the US as the country with the highest number of billionaires. However, the top 10 billionaires in Hurun’s list is still dominated by Americans.

China has 568 billionaires after gaining 90 new ones, compared with the US which has 535.

China’s billionaires boast a combined net worth of $1.4 trillion (£1.01 trillion), which is similar to the GDP of Australia.

Alphabet- Google’s parent company- has surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable company after its latest earnings report, according to the BBC.

The company made a profit of $4.9bn for the fourth quarter, an increase from $4.7bn a year ago.

The announcement sent its share price up as much as 9% in after-hours trading.

That means that Alphabet is now worth around $568bn, compared with Apple, which has a value of $535bn.

It is the first time that Alphabet has separated out the results of its Google business – which includes the search engine and YouTube – from its “Other Bets” business, which includes more experimental ventures such as self-driving cars and internet balloon programs.

On an annual basis, Alphabet made $16.3bn but the figures show that the “Other Bets” business lost $3.6bn during the period, while Google’s operating income rose to $23.4bn, as online advertising increased.

Photo: AFP

 

Dozens of people have died in an offensive by so-called Islamic State on government-held areas of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria, local media say, the BBC reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 85 civilians were killed in the attack, as well as 50 Syrian soldiers.

Syria’s state news agency Sana reported that around 300 civilians had died in the Baghaliyeh area of the city.

Meanwhile, the UN warned of “sharply deteriorating conditions” in the besieged areas.

Around 200,000 people were in these areas, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have each been handed a transfer ban by Fifa, prohibiting the two clubs from registering players in the next two windows, Goal.com reports.

The Spanish sides were found to have broken the organisation’s rules in relation to international transfers of players under 18 years of age. The suspension is similar to that which world football’s governing body handed Barcelona.

Atletico were fined €820,000, while their city rivals must pay €330,000. The two clubs will be permitted to sign and register players in the current transfer period, which closes at the end of January, but will then be unable to bring in new additions until the summer of 2017.

Read the Fifa Disciplinary Committee’s statement below:

“The Fifa Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned Spanish clubs Atletico de Madrid and Real Madrid for breaches relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18.

The two clubs were found to have violated several provisions concerning the international transfer and first registration of minor players as well as other relevant provisions with regard to the registration and participation of certain players in competitions.

Both clubs are to serve a transfer ban that prevents them from registering any players at national and international level for the next two complete and consecutive registration periods for breaching articles 5, 9, 19 and 19bis as well as annexes 2 and 3 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (the “Regulations”). The transfer ban, which does not affect the current registration period at all, given that it opened before the decisions were notified, applies to each club as a whole – with the exception of the women’s, futsal and beach soccer teams – and does not prevent the release of players.

Additionally, Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid have been fined CHF 900,000 and CHF 360,000 respectively, while both clubs have been issued with a reprimand and given 90 days in which to regularise the situation of all minor players concerned.

The decisions, which were notified to the parties concerned today, were made based on the specific elements of each case. They follow investigations initially conducted by Fifa Transfer Matching System GmbH (Fifa TMS) and subsequently by the Fifa Disciplinary Committee as part of disciplinary proceedings. The investigations concerned minor players who were involved and participated in competitions with the clubs over various periods between 2007 and 2014 (Atlético de Madrid) and between 2005 and 2014 (Real Madrid).

Fifa works hard to protect the rights of players under the age of 18 – whether male or female, amateur or professional. This is done through the enforcement of regulations prohibiting the international transfer of minors, or the first registration of minors in a country other than their own, except in specific circumstances (cf. art. 19 of the Regulations) that must be approved by the sub-committee appointed by the Players’ Status Committee. As such, the provisions relating to the protection of minors need to be strictly applied. This has been confirmed on various occasions by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Opening up the door to exceptions beyond those carefully drafted and included in the Regulations would unavoidably lead to cases of circumvention of the rationale for these provisions.

By Tany Beja

Canada’s Defence Minister, Harjit Sajjan, attended a special Christmas ceremony at St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church today to thank the community for its role in sponsoring .

The Richmond-base parish is hosting nearly 31 families, many with ties to church members. The effort makes the orthodox Christian Church one of BC’s largest private sponsors.

“It’s easy to expedite files, but it’s very hard to put the resources and community together to sponsor families like this. So this is my way of saying thank you,” Sajjan told reporters outside the church.

According to organizers, finding housing for the refugees has been the biggest challenge.

“We spent three days on Craigslist, trying to find rental apartments for $1,400 or $1,500, but it’s very difficult. People, when they know it’s a family, a mother, a father, maybe three kids and a mother in law, they just don’t want to rent, and unfortunately as private sponsors, we don’t get any help from the provincial government,” says Vic Andonian of the Armenian National Committee of Canada.

The church is not only looking for housing, but also donations of furniture and household goods. Donations can be made via or

Viken Majazian and Alin Azakelian and their two children are among the refugees being sponsored by St. Gregory Church. Majazian was a dental surgeon in Syria; Azakelian an engineer. But living in Aleppo, the family used to hear rockets above their apartment every night, and the violence eventually forced them to flee.

“I felt really hopeless,” Azakelian says. “My girl was saying she wanted to go to the park and sit on the swing. The kids just wanted to walk down the street. But I said you can’t go outside, so many dangers, maybe we will get hurt. There were so many difficult moments in our life, we felt hopeless.”

Now living in B.C., the family are about to move into their own rental apartment.

“I just want to thank everyone here, everyone, I am so happy,” Azakelian says.

Bundesliga’s official website has released a video of players from different countries wishing a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in their native languages.