‘Aurora’s Sunrise’ wins jury’s main award at 14th Franco Film Festival

Inna Sahakyan’s ‘Aurora’s Sunrise’ won the jury’s main award at the 14th edition of the Franco Film Festival in Rome, Italy, the National Cinema Center of Armenia reports.

The event was organized by the French Institute of Saint Louis with the support of francophone embassies in Italy.

The animated movie is a joint production of Armenia, Germany, and Lithuania (Bars Media, Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion, Artbox Laisvalaikio Klubas). The director and screenwriter is Inna Sahakyan. The producers are Vardan Hovhannisyan, Christian Bitz, and Juste Mikhailinaite.

‘Aurora’s Sunrise’ is based on the Zoryan Institute’s original interview from its Oral History Collection.
It tells the terrifying story of Aurora Mardiganian, an Armenian girl who survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

When the massacre began, Aurora was 14 and lived in a small town in the Ottoman Empire. Thanks to her willpower and determination in 1917, the girl found salvation in the USA.