BENTLEY: KVPT TO SCREEN ‘ORPHANS OF THE GENOCIDE’

Fresno Bee, CA
April 11 2013

Filmmaker Bared Maronian and actor Ken Davitian (“Borat,” “The Artist”)
will be the special guests at the KVPT (Channel 18.1) studios for
two screenings of Maronian’s documentary “Orphans of the Genocide.”

The film is dedicated to the more than 150,000 orphans of the Armenian
Genocide.

The Ottoman government killed as many as 1.5 million Armenians
from 1915–1923. Maronian’s film looks at an orphanage in Antoura,
Lebanon, where 1,000 Armenian orphans were Turkified, a process
of cultural or political change in which someone who is not a Turk
becomes one — voluntarily or involuntarily. The documentary also
includes testimonials from children of Armenian Genocide orphans.

The film is being shown at one public television station at a time.

KVPT spokeswoman Leslie Davis wants the response to be so big in
Fresno that it will encourage PBS to show the film nationally.

An advance screening will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the studio,
1544 Van Ness Ave. Seating — available through a $50 donation —
is limited and reservations must be made today. To reserve a seat,
send an email to ldavis@valleypbs.org or call Davis at (559) 266-1800,
extension 360.

The second screening will air on KVPT at 7 p.m. April 18.

Davitian was not involved in the production, but he offered his
assistance in promoting the work after seeing the film. The actor has
made several trips to Fresno to talk to the Armenian Youth Federation
and was the special guest in 2008 for Ron Mortanian’s “Reach for
the Stars” program, where celebrities talk to youngsters about the
importance of education.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress