Director Inna Sahakyan takes us behind the scenes of a forgotten story of Armenian Genocide survival

“Aurora’s Sunrise”: Director Inna Sahakyan takes us behind the scenes of a forgotten story of Armenian Genocide survival On May 9, 2023, the animated documentary film "Aurora's Sunrise" by Armenian director Inna Sahakyan premiered at the Sommets du cinéma d'animation film festival in Montreal. This powerful film had previously represented Armenia in the "Best Foreign Language Film" category at the 2023 Hollywood Oscars. "Aurora's Sunrise" tells the remarkable story of Arshaluys Mardiganian, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. At the age of 14, she tragically lost her family to the Ottomans in 1915 but managed to escape to the United States, where her tale caught the attention of Hollywood. Arshaluys portrayed herself in the early Hollywood blockbuster "Auction of Souls," becoming the face of a significant charity campaign in American history, despite only 18 minutes of footage remaining from her silent film. Years later, acclaimed director Inna Sahakyan took on the task of reviving her inspiring story. During a visit to Montreal's Armenian Sourp Hagop school and Horizon Weekly headquarters, Sahakyan sat down with Horizon Weekly’s Diana Skaya to provide an exclusive glimpse behind the scenes of this multiple award-winning film. Aurora’s Sunrise was created by Bars Media (Armenia) in co-production with Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion (Germany) & Artbox Laisvalaikio Klubas (Lithuania), and was made possible by the academic contribution of the Zoryan Institute and is based on its Oral History Archive.