Garin K. Hovannisian (Armenian: Կարին Հովհաննիսյան; born 1986) is an

Armenian American Armenian Americans ( hy, ամերիկահայեր, ''amerikahayer'') are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in ...

writer, filmmaker, and producer. He is the director of the award-winning films ''1915'' (2015), ''

I Am Not Alone ''I Am Not Alone'' is an Armenian-American documentary film, directed by Garin Hovannisian and released in 2019. The film profiles Armenian politician Nikol Pashinyan and his role in the 2018 Armenian revolution.Graham Isador"System of a Down's S ...

'' (2019), and ''Truth to Power'' (2020), and the author of the book ''Family of Shadows: A century of murder, memory, and the Armenian American dream''. He is also the founder of the arts foundation Creative Armenia.

Early life and education

Born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, he is the son of politician Raffi K. Richard Hovannisian and founder of Orran benevolent non-governmental organization Armine K. Hovannisian. Garin Hovannisian is a graduate of the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

and

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

. He is a recipient of the

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

and the Lynton Award for Book Writing.

Career

Garin Hovannisian is the author of the book ''Family of Shadows: A century of murder, memory, and the Armenian American dream,'' which traces the 100-year arc of his family story, from his great-grandfather's flight to

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

after surviving the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

to his father

Raffi Hovannisian Raffi K. Richardi Hovannisian ( hy, Րաֆֆի Կ. Ռիչարդի Հովհաննիսյան; hyw, Րաֆֆի Կ. Ռիչարդի Յովհաննէսեան; born 20 November 1959) is an Armenian politician, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia and t ...

's repatriation and subsequent climb to political prominence. The book won the Lynton Award for Book Writing. His writing on Armenian issues, including the

and Armenia's struggle for

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

, has appeared in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

''. In 2015, together with Alec Mouhibian, he founded the production company Avalanche Entertainment. Hovannisian and Mouhibian co-wrote, directed, and produced the film ''1915'' (2015), a psychological mystery set on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Critic Martin Tsai, in his

review, identified ''1915'' as contemplating "personal tragedy versus collective grief, artistic license versus historical responsibility, revisionist history versus corrective narrative, forgetting versus moving on," and praised the film as a “creative way to do justice to such a monumental topic."''1915'' was released theatrically in the U.S. on April 17, 2015, and was the #2 box-office performing debut film on its opening weekend. It released widely in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

on April 23 and

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

on April 25. In December, 2015, it screened in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

as part of the Lake Van International Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It was also awarded "Best Film" by the World Entertainment Armenian Awards. He produced and directed ''

'' (2019), a documentary on the

2018 Armenian velvet revolution The 2018 Armenian Revolution, most commonly known in Armenia as #MerzhirSerzhin ( hy, ՄերժիրՍերժին, meaning "#RejectSerzh"), was a series of anti-government protests in Armenia from April to May 2018 staged by various political and ...

. The film premiered at the

2019 Toronto International Film Festival The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film '' Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band'', directed by Daniel Roher, and the festival closed with a ...

, where it was first runner-up for the People's Choice Award for Documentaries. It has gone on to win the audience award at

AFI Fest The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fun ...

, Doc NYC, Omaha Film Festival, and

Boulder International Film Festival The Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF), sponsored by the Colorado Film Society, is held annually on Presidents Day Weekend in Boulder, Colorado USA, and has developed a reputation as one of the most compelling young film festivals in the ...

, as well as jury awards for best feature at

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is an annual non-fiction film festival held in Missoula, Montana each February. The event showcases documentary films from around the world. The festival first began in 2003 as a seven-day event. It is now a ten- ...

and Boulder International Film Festival. In 2017, Hovannisian founded Creative Armenia, a global arts foundation that discovers, develops, and promotes innovative filmmakers, writers, musicians, and artists across all fields. Hovannisian serves as its founding director.

Filmography

Director

* ''1915'' (Feature film, 2015) * ''The Moment'' (TV miniseries, 2017) * ''

'' (Documentary, 2019) * ''Truth to Power'' (Documentary, 2020)

Producer

* ''1915'' (Feature film, 2015) * ''The Moment'' (TV miniseries, 2017) * ''Children of War'' (Short film, 2017) * ''

'' (Documentary, 2019) * ''Truth to Power'' (Documentary, 2020)

Writer

* ''1915'' (Feature film, 2015) * ''The Moment'' (TV miniseries, 2017) * ''

'' (Documentary, 2019) * ''Truth to Power'' (Documentary, 2020)

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hovannisian, Garin Living people American people of Armenian descent 1985 births American documentary film directors People from Los Angeles