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Exploring A Current Event: An Interview with Andrew Goldberg
By Khatchig Mouradian
March 23, 2006
ews.htm
On April 17, 2006, PBS will air a powerful documentary, titled `The Armenian
Genocide,’ which deals with the massacres and deportations of the Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The documentary, written, directed and
produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Andrew Goldberg, features interviews
with leading genocide scholars and is narrated by Julianna Margulies as well
as Ed Harris, Natalie Portman, Laura Linney and Orlando Bloom, among others.
Filmed in the US, France, Germany, Belgium, Syria, and Turkey, the one-hour
documentary also features discussions with Kurdish and Turkish citizens in
modern-day Turkey.
Andrew Goldberg of Two Cats Productions () has produced and
directed documentaries, news segments and long-form programming for PBS,
NBC, E!, Inside Edition, ABC News and many others. His documentaries include
`Armenians, A Story of Survival’ (2001) and `A Yiddish World Remembered’
(2002).
The following phone interview was conducted on March 10, 2006.
Khatchig Mouradian -Why did you decide to make a documentary on the Armenian
genocide?
Andrew Goldberg- The Armenian Genocide is one of the most underreported
stories of the 20th century. Every time there is an attempt to raise this
issue, there are those who try to stop the discussion. I wanted to get this
important subject discussed. I am glad we succeeded.
KM- The title of the documentary is enough to make the Turkish government
and other genocide deniers try to stop the discussion this time around as
well, even without bothering to see the documentary, isn’t it?
AG- As I have previously stated, I did not use the title `The Armenian
Genocide’ to be provocative. However, if you don’t use the word `genocide,’
you are enabling denial. It’s not that we must use the word `genocide’; it’s
only that we cannot allow people to stop us from using the word. The term
`genocide’ did not exist for years, but the mass killings of the Armenians
were denied back then as well. We could call it anything and the people who
want to stop the truth would still deny it. We are using the term `genocide’
because it’s the only word in the current language to properly describe this
event. The mass murder of the Armenian people has been denied for nearly a
hundred years; I won’t be a part of that denial no matter what.
KM- The documentary also gives an opportunity to deniers of the Armenian
genocide to express their views and tell what they consider to be `the other
side’ of the story. What is your comment on that?
AG- Denial can be looked at, but it must be looked at in a controlled,
quarantined situation. If you quarantine denial, contextualize it, and
explain to people that what they now are seeing is denial, then you are
shielded from the virus of denial and it doesn’t cause damage. While we do
present in the film the points of view of deniers, I wouldn’t call it `the
other side,’ because there is no other side. People do not understand just
how committed the denialists are to distorting the story. People need to
understand the monster. That’s why we chose to show what they had to say.
KM- In the documentary, columnist and retired Turkish diplomat Gunduz Aktan
says, `The Turkish people firmly believe that what happened to the Armenian
people was not genocide.’ Tell us about your impressions of how the Turkish
people approach the Armenian issue.
AG – First of all, they approach it differently on camera than they do off
camera. I’ll give you an example not related to the genocide. If you speak
to the Hamshen, they will say to you, `We are Armenians,’ but when you point
the camera at them, they say `We are Turkish.’ Turkey is not a nation of
free speech, although it may present itself as such. Therefore, there’s a
double dialogue in Turkey. There’s a dialogue that you see presented
publicly, and then there’s a dialogue behind closed doors. There is an
increasing number of people in Turkey who do believe it was genocide;
however, they would not say this publicly.
KM- The main challenge of addressing a historical event by film would be
making it related to the here and now. Was this the case with `The Armenian
genocide’?
AG- I believe that this is an event that started 91 years ago and is not
over. Denial is the final stage of genocide. Therefore, it’s a current
event. Besides, we address many contemporary issues in the film, such as the
recent ruling in Turkey that they would teach the students that there was no
genocide. This is incredible; believing is one thing, but teaching it in the
state curriculum is another thing. We did not take on news issues like Orhan
Pamuk because you don’t know how they are going to turn out and when they
turn out one way or another, the film immediately becomes old. This
documentary is not a news piece; it’s a piece that has to have some
shelf-life. This is more of an issue piece than a news piece.
KM- Tell us a bit of this all-star cast of narrators.
AG- I worked with Aleen Keshishian who is a wonderful and extremely
accomplished Talent Manager in Hollywood. We worked together in picking the
narrators, and every one of them donated their services. Every single one of
them did it for free, because they cared deeply about the cause. We have a
wonderful cast of talented people and we are very proud of them.
KM- What is the message that you want to convey to the public with `The
Armenian genocide’?
AD- What happened to the Armenians is one of the most inhumane acts in the
history of the human race. The victims of that event and their children have
never been acknowledged and affirmed, and it is important that we, as
non-Armenians and Armenians, affirm and acknowledge this tragedy, and send a
clear message to those attempting to deny this tragedy that we will not
allow their position to make progress into this international conversation.