Creative Armenia launches operations in Yerevan
Terry George, Atom Egoyan join grand jury for $5,000 filmmaking challenge.
July 4, 2017 | by Creative Armenia
The Creative Armenia team in Yerevan: Tatevik Manoukyan, Garin Hovannisian, Ani Mouradian, Vasil Shahbazyan, and Arpine Hakhinyan.
After last month’s United States launch, realized in partnership with The Promise and the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Creative Armenia has opened operations in Yerevan. The news was announced yesterday at a reception held at the Grand Hotel Yerevan, in the company of the republic’s leading cultural organizations, production companies, embassies, and ministries.
“Creative Armenia’s presence in Armenia is vital to the fulfillment of our mandate,” said founder Garin Hovannisian. “From Los Angeles to Yerevan, ours is a global endeavor to discover talent and empower stories of impact in the digital age.”
Creative Armenia is a non-profit organization conceived at the cross-section of entertainment, human rights, and creative technologies. It debuts with a variety of cultural programming: awarding fellowships, running a digital magazine, producing cutting-edge content, and provoking cultural activity through its signature Creative Challenge series.
The first in this series is a video challenge from Oscar-winning director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, The Promise). The challenge is simple: Can you film a human rights story in 60 seconds? There is one catch: You can’t use dialogue. The prize is $5,000. And the final evaluation is conducted by a world-renowned jury.
The composition of the jury was announced at the Yerevan reception: Oscar- winning director Terry George; Cannes-winning director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Ararat); social impact campaigner Bonnie Abaunza (Blood Diamond, The Promise); social impact filmmaker Carla Garapedian (Screamers); Jessica Peake (Assistant Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA); and Peter Bisanz (Executive Director of the Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment at UCLA).
The Jury: Terry George, Bonnie Abaunza, Atom Egoyan, Carla Garapedian, Peter Bisanz, and Jessica Peake.
The deadline for Challenge 001 has been extended to July 31 to accommodate submissions from Armenia. Citizens living in Armenia and Artsakh are waived the application fee. But the challenge remains open to all filmmakers, without restrictions of geography and nationality, and all creative people are encouraged to apply.
Founded in partnership with a major anonymous benefactor, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and The Promise, Creative Armenia is represented by creative teams in Los Angeles and Yerevan, and empowered by a founding board of advisors including Grammy-winning musician Serj Tankian, producer Dr. Eric Esrailian, actress Arsinée Khanjian, actor Simon Abkarian, playwright-performer Eric Bogosian, filmmaker Carla Garapedian, and designer Michael Aram.