Irish Cinephile names “Aurora’s Sunrise” among 25 best movies of 2023

PanARMENIAN.Net - “Aurora’s Sunrise”, an animated/archive footage hybrid documentary about Armenian Genocide survivor Arshaluys Mardiganian has been included in the Irish Cinephile’s 25 best movies of 2023.

Directed by Inna Sahakyan, the film depicts the unreal odyssey of Mardiganian, who, after losing her family, escaping slavery, and enduring Hollywood greed, journeys far to tell the world of the Armenian Genocide.

“Aurora’s Sunrise is a pick for this list that feels like it could be a cheat. According to the Film Distributors Association, the film did not receive a cinematic release in the UK, but it appears to have at least had a very limited cinematic release hence its inclusion here,” the portal says.

“The film is an animated/archive footage hybrid documentary that gives us a haunting tale of human history, focusing on the journey of Arshaluys/Aurora Mardiganian’s surviving the Armenian Genocide and how it led her to becoming a silent star in old Hollywood. The animation art style works well for the film, and has some notably impactful sequences, particularly in how Arshaluys/Aurora remembers her family doing their play of ‘The Three Goats’ but from a traumatic lens.”

Mardiganian, who dies at the age of 93 in 1994, was an Armenian-American author, actress, and a survivor of the Armenian Genocide.