AURORA PRIZE

“Before me stands the incarnation of infinite, inexpressible suffering. An eternal flame burns in the center of a wide circle, perpetuating that day of horror. Facing the monument is a man, alone and weeping, trembling with emotion. He has come to pay tribute to his parents. I contemplate the symbolic image of Golgothan horror, trying not to break into tears. I had been a hair’s breadth from that icy death, my child’s heart as yet unaware of the extent of the tragedy.”

Some voices cannot be silenced and some messages reach their addressees many years after they are sent. This is what happened to a young Brazilian architect and photographer of Armenian descent Norair Chahinian, who went on a journey to his homeland and discovered a message that awaited him at this ancestral home in Urfa for almost 100 years.

Marc Nichanian has been a philosopher for 30 years. He writes in French, the language of his school years, in Armenian, which he had to learn all over again with great difficulty, and in English, which he picked up in the United States. Marc specializes in Germanic studies but considers himself primarily a “wandering teacher:” he has lectured on the Armenian language and literature in Paris, Vienna, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, New York, Beirut and, most recently, Istanbul.

His life is filled with adventures of all kinds to the brim. As a journalist and documentary filmmaker, Pascal Manoukian, a grandchild of Armenian Genocide survivors, has traveled the world for decades. He has witnessed death on the front lines of history and mingled with people who are suffering around the globe.

Brenda Vaneskeheian, known by her stage name Bren Vaneske, is an Argentinian singer who has, in a short period of time, made great strides on the local musical underground scene. She performed at big festivals and opened for the legendary Argentinian band Attaque 77. In 2015, she released her album “Tiempo Real.” She claims to have inherited her proclivity and passion for the arts from her great-grandfather Avedis, an Armenian Genocide survivor.

Abraham Jacky Nercessian is a French actor of Armenian origin. He considers his identity to be the fruit of his life’s journey. “When I am asked about my emotional nationality, I say I am an Armeno-Anatolo-Greek from Saint Etienne and Paris!” he says.

If you live in Russia, you are bound to have seen the image of a majestic airship sliding against the backdrop of Mount Ararat – unless you don’t go to the movies and don’t own a television. This animation is the title sequence of all the movies produced or released for film or TV distribution by Central Partnership, the company founded by Ruben Dishdishyan.

Fifty-four year old adventurer and photographer Antoine Agoudjian has been roaming the Middle East and the Caucasus for 20 years, searching for subjects to photograph. In 2011, he became the first photographer to ever hold an exhibition in Turkey dedicated to the taboo subject of the Armenian Genocide.

Vahagn Hayrapetyan, a student of Barry Harris and Frank Hewitt and an ”Honored artist of the Republic of Armenia,” is an accomplished jazz pianist, singer and composer, the founder and director of the avant-garde jazz and rock band “Katouner” (“The Cats”). Once, when Vahagn was eight years old, his grandfather began rattling off names of cities, and Vahagn asked him to mark them on a map and connect them with lines. Little did he know that the man, a Genocide survivor, was drawing the route of his salvation.

Jeweler Thierry Vendome is a chip off the old block. Son of the great Jean Vendome, known in France as the father of contemporary jewelry, Thierry has progressively learned to stand on his own through time and his creations.

Varduhie Varderesyan was a prominent film and theater actress in Armenia. In addition to many roles and performances, she made over 100 recordings at Armenia’s National Radio Golden Fund. She received the title of “People’s Artist” and won numerous awards. At the age of 87, Varderesyan was a singular representative of the senior generation gracing the Armenian stage. Varduhie Varderesyan passed away in Yerevan on November 24, 2015.

Jivan Gasparyan, an internationally renowned "master of the duduk," says that though there is grief in everyone’s heart, there is no need for lamentation. We need to continue living. “The wounds of the earth can be healed, but the wounds of the heart cannot,” he quotes the lines of a song he wrote. Through the melodies of his duduk, he presents the world with both the indelible wounds of the Armenians and their passion to live and create.

Born in Gyumri, Armenia in 1987, composer, singer and musician Tigran Hamasyan is as comfortable with jazz as he is with Armenian folk music. Only three years after he began playing piano, he won the Montreux Jazz Festival’s piano competition at the age of 16. He released his debut album at the age of 18, after moving to Los Angeles with his family. He later returned to Armenia, where he taught master classes and found inspiration in his beloved Armenian music.

Jacques Deyirmendjian is the deputy general manager for international development at Gaz de France. He is the man behind the essential negotiations on natural gas deliveries to France. After graduating from Ecole Polytechnique in the 1960s, Jacques Deyiermendjian had a remarkable career, from a modest position to his present titles. His success story is first and foremost a tribute to the memory of his parents, Hovsep and Nvard Deyiermendjian.

“Alain Delon agreed to be in our film, and Adrien Brody and Dustin Hoffman.” Valery Saaryan must have repeated these words a thousand times to different people already, but his voice is full of sincere pride. While he passionately talks about the project, his phone rings off the hook. But he’s so engrossed in his tale, he doesn’t answer it, and at some point gives the mobile to his assistant: “Tell them I’m busy.”