Epress.am News from Armenia
J. Michael Hagopian, a twice Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker whose 70 documentaries on the Armenian Genocide won more than 160 awards, has died. He was 97.
Hagopian, a survivor of the genocide that killed an estimated 1.5 million people in Turkey from 1915-23, died Friday of natural causes at his home in Thousand Oak, reports the Los Angeles Daily News.
Hagopian filmed nearly 400 interviews of survivors and witnesses to the genocide from around the world, and made 17 documentaries about Armenian heritage, culture and history.
Hagopian received two Emmy nominations in 1976 for “The Forgotten Genocide.” His last film in a trilogy on the genocide, “The River Ran Red,” won Best International Historical Documentary at the Amnesty International Film Festival in November and at the New York International Film & Video Festival in 2009.
“Through his life and career, Dr. J. Michael Hagopian is proof that a single person can change humankind’s understanding of itself,” Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian said in remarks made several months ago at a commemoration for Hagopian. “He is proof that we can rise above intolerance and ensure future generations are armed with the information needed to combat bigotry in all forms.”