Compelling animation documentary about the tragic and exceptional life of Aurora Mardiganian, who escaped the Armenian Genocide and subsequently became famous in America through a Hollywood film about her life.
In 1919, the silent film Auction of Souls premiered in New York, about a teenage girl who survived the Armenian Genocide and fled to America. The main role was played by the survivor in question: Aurora Mardiganian. The film turned out to be a box office success and Mardiganian became world famous.
Meanwhile, the massacres in Armenia continued, and Mardiganian was nearly engulfed in traumatic relives cranked up by Hollywood's harsh publicity mill. Yet she chose to be the face of a humanitarian campaign, hoping to save her people. More than a century later, Inna Sahakyan reconstructs the forgotten story of the heroine who died in 1994 in her historical documentary.
Mardiganian's memoir Ravished Armenia formed the basis for this chronologically told animated film. The animations are interspersed with rare scenes from the largely lost Hollywood production and archive footage in which an elderly Mardiganian reminisces about her hellish, extraordinary odyssey. She wanted to make sure, like Sahakyan with this film, that the Armenian Genocide is never forgotten.
Agenda
There are no new dates planned (yet) for Aurora's Sunrise.
