Pays tribute to 95 year-old film-maker Dr. J. Michael Hagopian

http://armenianlife.com/1227AFFMAHonorsGermanNationalTVExecProducerForAGHET.html
10/03/10 - Issue # 1227
AFFMA Honors German National TV’s Exec. Producer For “AGHET”, A Ground-breaking Documentary on Genocide
Pays tribute to 95 year-old film-maker Dr. J. Michael Hagopian
By Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher / Managing Editor
On Friday September 24, Arpa Foundation for Film, Music and Art (AFFMA) devoted one of its prime nights, the 4th evening of the 13th Annual Arpa Int’l. Film Festival to the West Coast Premiere screening of “Aghet: A Genocide.”
I served as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening.
IThe evening’s program had begun with a 4-minute short film by Hrag Yedalian depicting the life of longtime filmmaker, – 95 year-old Dr. J. Michael Hagopian.
Dr. J. Michael Hagopian is a distinguished personality with superb talent in mirroring the life and struggle of his people, the Armenians. He is the recipient of: Arpa Lifetime Achievement Award; Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award, 2006; Jewish World Watch's 'I Witness' Award for dedicating his professional life to chronicling the history of the Armenian people and commemorating victims of the Armenian Genocide.
Just before the screening of “Aghet”, I said: “As a writer and an actor, I am attracted to the beautiful art of movie-making because movie-making is a form of journalism which can be utilized for the higher purpose of amplifying the message of a cause.
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Pres. Obama Can Now Replace Bryza
With a New Nominee as Envoy to Baku

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
A funny thing happened to Matthew Bryza on the way to Baku! He had rented out his Washington home and packed up his suitcase, after being assured by top White House and State Department officials that he was going to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan. He could already smell the oil and gas in the air!
In his excitement, Bryza seemed to have forgotten that his irresponsible statements and actions, during his stunt as U.S. negotiator on the Karabagh (Artsakh) conflict, had antagonized some of his Washington colleagues and others in the Caucasus.
More than a year ago, when the U.S. Ambassador’s post in Baku became vacant, Bryza brashly told everyone in Washington that he wanted to be, nay, he was going to be, the next Ambassador to Azerbaijan! He immediately hit a snag, when Pres. Aliyev informed the White House that he was neither pleased with Obama administration’s policies in the Caucuses nor with its self-proclaimed Wunderkind (boy wonder)!
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USC Symposium on Armenian Diaspora Unity
LOS ANGELES—The University of Southern California Institute of Armenian Studies is planning a symposium titled "The Armenian Diaspora: Elective Leadership & Worldwide Structure," with the purpose of identifying strategies to promote Armenian unity. The daylong symposium will take place on Saturday, November 20, at USC’s Town and Gown.
Speakers at the conference are: Gov. George Deukmejian; former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans; attorney Mark Geragos; California Courier publisher Harut Sassounian; journalist/author Mark Arax; Prof. R. Hrair Dekmejian, USC; Prof. Stephan H. Astourian, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Gaidz Minassian, Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris; Archalus Tcheknavorian-Asenbauer, Senior Advisor, United Nations, Vienna; Prof. Levon Marashlian, Glendale Community College; and Prof. Andrew Demirdjian, California State University, Long Beach.
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The Selling of the Woodrow Wilson Center
By David Boyajian
“Woodrow Wilson is looking down in horror at what the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWC) is doing in his name.” That’s as true today as when I wrote it back in May (see “The Woodrow Wilson Center Desecrates its Namesake’s Legacy and Violates its Congressional Mandate” on the Web).
Since then, the DC-based WWC (WilsonCenter.org) has been condemned by journalists, a Wilson family descendant, a prominent Congressman, and other Americans for:
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Annette Melikian