Author: Samvel Nahapetian

The Armenian genocide drama — starring Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac — opened to just $4.1 million over the weekend in North America, according to the .

The late Kirk Kerkorian’s parting gift to Hollywood was The Promise, a big-budget epic about the Armenian genocide.

Starring Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, the movie opened to a mere $4.1 million at the North American box office over the weekend. At that rate, the film stands to lose $80 million or more unless it overperforms overseas and in ancillary markets, according to box-office experts.

The Promise cost $90 million to $100 million to make before marketing costs and a distribution fee paid to Open Road Films in North America. Kerkorian, who died in 2015 and was of Armenian descent, fully financed the movie via Survival Pictures, which was created to make the movie and to educate the public about genocide in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The film’s producers say the movie is a victory, its box office notwithstanding, since the intent was never to make a profit. Instead, The Promise was intended to shine a light on the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. And any proceeds from the film will be donated to charity, including to the new The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law, which was unveiled last week with a $20 million gift.

The release of the film was timed to the date the genocide began: April 24, 1915. That was the day when Turkey’s Ottoman Empire began rounding up, arresting and deporting Armenian leaders and intellectuals.

“The movie was made as a living museum,” says Eric Esrailian, a partner at Survival who also is a professor of medicine at UCLA. “We made the film knowing it would stand the test of time. And we will give millions away in charity. We wanted to shed a light on the best, and on the state of the world today.”

Esrailian added, “I feel like it is petty to talk about money when we are talking about genocide.”

The Promise premiered Sunday in Armenia at a screening attended by President Serzh Sargsyan.

“It was always going to be tough sell given its period, wartime subject matter,” says box-office expert Paul Dergarabedian of comScore, who is also of Armenian descent. “For myself and many Armenians, it was a strong statement nevertheless and shed light on a period in history that many are not really familiar with.  If one person saw the trailer and said to themselves, ‘I’m going to research the events surrounding the Armenian Genocide,’ then it was certainly worth the effort.”

Box-office analyst Jeff Bock is of a different opinion.

“I honestly don’t know who spends $90 million on a historical drama these days without a major distributor in place. This is just failed filmmaking from start to finish,” Bock says. “There’s always a way to tell a story without breaking the bank to do so.”

Hovig, who represents Cyprus at Eurovision 2017, follows Germany’s Levina to accept a challenge to sing an Armenian song.

Hovig shared a Video of him singing the Armenian song “Yeraz im hayreni” (My Dream Homeland) by Robert Amirkhanyan.

“Thank you for challenging me and giving me the opportunity to sing one of my favorite Armenian songs,” Hovig said in a message.

Armenia’s entrant Artsvik earlier performed a German song “Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust” and challenged Germany’s Levina, who sang Armenian folk song “Kakavik”

Artsvik later performed a popular Cypriot song Το γιασεμίν (The Jasmine) and chllenged Hovig, who is of Armenian descent.

Artsvik says Eurovision 2017 theme “Celebrate Diversity” inspired her to launch the series of covers. She’s challenging artists from around Europe to perform their own covers of Armenian folk songs of their choice.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received today Vazil Hudák, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The Prime Minister hailed the cooperation with EIB aimed at implementation of projects in the fields of energy, transport, agriculture and tourism. He attached importance to the Bank’s cooperation with the private sector and added that “the government has adopted a clear-cut policy of implementing reforms in absolutely all spheres.”

“Our steps will be targeted at creating a predictable and transparent field for business,” he noted.

Vazil Hudák noted, in turn, that “The European Investment bank is interested in maintaining cooperation with the Armenian government in all domains.”

Karen Karapetyan welcomed the willingness to cooperate and said that “serious reforms to be implemented in regional governance will allow to improve the transparency and efficiency, involve private investors in different public services.”

Christian Bale, Chris Cornell, Serj Tankian, Angela Sarafyan and filmmaker Terry George will attend the premiere of the Armenian genocide-themed film The Promise.

Inspired by true events, The Promise tells the important story of the Armenian genocide and a struggle for love in a time of turmoil. This is the first wide-release film about a tragic history, featuring a critically acclaimed cast and director, and you’ll be there to experience the premiere in true Hollywood style.

The film hits theatres on April 21.

Promoting inclusion as a core element of successful economies the EBRD is launching the extension of its successful Women in Business programme in Armenia to the local lenders Ameriabank and ACBA-Credit Agricole.

Both banks joined the programme at the end of last year and are now ready to provide loans to women-led businesses in accordance with the programmes guidelines and goals.

Araratbank will shortly join the Programme as well. Ashot Osipyan, Chairman of the Executive Board of Araratbank OJSC, said: “Different loan products are regularly developed and offered to women at the most favourable terms by our bank. This project will enable women to implement their projects and ideas. It will also provide an opportunity to create new jobs through supporting economic growth. Women have great business potential and we will contribute towards delivering it with to this vital programme.”

Armenia was one of the first countries to start the Women in Business programme in the countries of the Eastern Partnership Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia Moldova, and Ukraine. The programme promotes women’s entrepreneurship and supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) led by women through access to finance and advisory services.

The Women in Business programme in the Eastern Partnership countries is funded by the EBRD, the European Union, Sweden and the Early Transition Countries Fund. The EBRD made an initial contribution of US$ 55 million to create credit lines for on-lending to women-led businesses via local financial institutions to the programme in the Eastern Partnership countries alone.

The programme helps women-led SMEs to access the finance and advice they need to grow, offering financing through local partner financial institutions, technical assistance for participating financial institutions and business advice for women entrepreneurs. The programme also includes advisory services projects with mentoring and longer-term coaching

Mark Davis, EBRD Head of the office in Yerevan, said: “We believe that when market failures are addressed, obstacles removed and women-led SMEs are given equal opportunities, they can deliver in terms of economic performance and job creation.”

The Government of Sweden has allocated SEK 47 million (approx. €5.2 million) to the implementation of the programme in the Eastern Partnership countries. Margareta Kristianson, Chargée d’Affaires a.i. at Embassy of Sweden in Armenia, said: “Supporting the development of women’s entrepreneurship has been identified as the key for economic growth in the region. Women’s entrepreneurship is an important contributor to the national economy, and the number of companies run by women is growing at a faster pace than those run by men.”

A further €4.5 million has been made available from the European Union Neighbourhood Investment Facility to finance the credit enhancement and part of the capacity building programme for partner financial institutions. €0.9 million has also been provided by the EBRD’s Early Transition Countries Fund.

Piotr Świtalski, EU Ambassador to Armenia, added: “The EU is working all over Armenia to promote equal rights for all in any sector of activity. The EU considers that Armenian women along with young generation should play fully their role as a driving force of the Armenian economy and the EU will invest more and more in those. Armenian women-led SMEs represent a major opportunity in terms of economic growth and the EU hopes that Armenian authorities will consider this as well and make their business life easier.”

In its new transition concept, launched at the beginning of the year, the EBRD identifies six transition qualities: the Bank believes that a well-functioning market economy should be competitive, well-governed, green, inclusive, resilient and integrated.

The EBRD is currently implementing the Women in Business programme in 16 countries.

Britain’s upper house of parliament defeated Prime Minister Theresa May’s government on Wednesday, voting in favour of a change to her Brexit plan that says she can only trigger exit talks if she promises to protect the rights of EU citizensm, Reuters reports.

The House of Lords voted 358 to 256 to make an amendment to the “European Union (Notification of Withdrawal Bill)” – legislation that will give May the power to trigger the legal process of leaving the EU.

The change requires the government to publish proposals on how to protect EU citizens currently living in Britain – including their residency rights – within three months of triggering exit negotiations.

May’s Conservatives do not have a majority in the upper chamber.

Germany says it has received 136 asylum requests from Turks holding diplomatic passports since the July coup attempt against the Turkish president, the BBC reports.

The figure is a total for the period August 2016 to January 2017, German media report.

Turkey has urged Germany not to grant asylum to any military officers. Some posted to Nato bases in Germany are thought to be among the group.

In Greece, two more Turkish soldiers have requested asylum.

The pair – reported to be commandos – are believed to have taken part in the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

They are in Greek police custody, having applied for asylum last week in Orestiada, a small border town near Turkey.

Last month a Greek court rejected Turkey’s request to extradite eight other Turkish soldiers who fled after the coup attempt. Turkey is appealing against that ruling.

The German interior ministry did not identify the 136 Turks who requested asylum. Not only diplomats but also their spouses and children hold diplomatic passports.

It is not clear if any of them have been granted asylum yet.

Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Javad Zarif held talks with Armenia’s Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan on Wednesday, the Iranian reports. The source provides no details of the meeting.

Yesterday Armenia’s Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan paid a visit to Imam Khomeini’s mausoleum to commemorate the founder of the Islamic Revolution on the 38th anniversary of it.

Minister Sargsyan later had a meeting with Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan.

The NKR Defense Army has dismissed the claims that an Azeri serviceman had been killed in a shooting from the Armenian side.

The NKR Defense Ministry reports that that the Azerbaijani side kept violating the ceasefire regime all along the line of contact, using firearms of different calibers, also as 60 and 82 mm mortars.

More intensive firing was reported in the eastern and northeastern sections of the frontline.

The NKR forces resorted to response actions to pressure the activeness of the rival at some sections. “Azerbaijan will be responsible for the consequences of further aggravation of tension. Karabakh pledges stricter actions should the rival maintain the behavior.