- [on The Promise (2016)] It became clear that the government of Turkey was going to have an influence on this movie. One of the most insidious realities of our existence in the United States is that foreign governments can control art. I would say at the highest levels from different studios, we were just basically told that no matter how good the film would be, it was never going to be released by certain companies. I think that that's truly shameful, but it's just a reality that we had to deal with. [2017]
- [on donating all of the proceeds from the theatrical run of The Promise (2016) to nonprofits, human rights and humanitarian groups] We're not against profit - the way I look at is, the more money that comes back to Survival, the more we can help others and get more out to the world, so we certainly want it to be successful from a financial standpoint. [2017]
- [on the late Kirk Kerkorian and The Promise (2016)] Many times we talked about the film - obviously the process of developing a film like this takes a long time, and with every passing month, I'd say to him, 'Are you sure you still want to do this? Because we could just donate the money to charity - that's what you've always done.' And he said, 'No. We can make the movie and donate to charity. We want to do both. [2017]
- The Promise (2016) means so much personally. The promise was from us to complete the film. The promise is for us to never forget and the promise is for us also a vow to do something so that it never happens again. [2017]
- [on The Promise (2016)] One of the big things for us was taking the darkness of the Armenian Genocide and moving it into the light. (...) Genocide denial is one phase of genocide. The way systematic denial has tried to crush it and bury the truth for so many years, it's amazing to see it all come to light now. (...) It's still a movie. It's not a political statement. It's just the truth. [2017]
- [why the Hollywood studios never made a feature about the Armenian Genocide] I'll just say that there are some studios that have business interests in Turkey, and you can form your own opinion. [2016]
- The Armenian Genocide is one of the most well-documented humanitarian catastrophes of the 20th century. It was, in real time... frequently written about in U.S. newspapers. There was a huge humanitarian relief effort. [2017]
- [on the Turkish denial of the Armenian Genocide] There has been a very well-organized systematic attempt to suppress the story, as the final phase of genocide. You're dealing with all the weight of that denial for 102 years now. So there's a general lack of awareness in the population, particularly in the United States, about the Armenian Genocide because of that. [2017]
- [on Armenian Genocide recognition] As long as there is deep denial [by the Turkish government], our identity and the awareness of our culture will be viewed through a different lens, and it's important to have that recognition and awareness while moving forward at the same time. Armenians have not stood still and hoped for genocide recognition. This is the mission and the message from the film - the take home is not the genocide - it's where we are today; that Armenians have persevered, have thrived, have contributed to society. [2017]
- [on The Promise (2016) and its social media campaign] Our goal is to draw attention to the parallels of human rights abuses in the world today, the relevance to the world today, to show that Armenians also care about other people all around the world, including in Turkey, and that people need to learn the lessons from the Armenian Genocide so that we can help others in the world who are at risk. We have to show that the denialists and people who are complicit in human rights abuse - and many of those people are in the same camp - are using the same tactics today to commit human rights abuses that they did to the Armenian people in 1915 and beyond. So it's really important to draw attention to why people are denying, what are the tactics they're using, demonstrate that what happened to the Armenian people unfortunately is not a unique situation - we're connected to all these other groups that have suffered atrocities as well - and that we need to basically come together to once and for all say never forget and then do everything we can for the 'never again' component of it. [2017]
- I hope The Promise (2016) inspires people to look at the world today, and at populations that are in danger, like the Yazidis and people in conflict zones like Syria. The film, sadly, could not be more timely. [2017]
- [on the story of The Promise (2016)] Both Mr. Kerkorian [Kirk Kerkorian] and my producing partner Mike Medavoy felt strongly that a love story would open up the film to a wider audience. We couldn't build on a general awareness, like in Schindler's List (1993) or some of the other more contemporary films. Like Hotel Rwanda (2004) is the reason why a lot of people know about the Rwandan genocide. But it was happening in the news, not long before that film was made. The challenge with the Armenian Genocide is that you're trying tell a story about 102 years ago. [2017]
- [on the fight against revisionist propaganda] Sadly, there have been injustices all over the world - including in this country - and the ripple effect and trauma to the descendants and to the survivors is significant. There's no healing until there's recognition and acceptance. [2017]
- [on The Promise (2016)] The movie was made as a living museum. [2017]
- [on Intent to Destroy: Death, Denial & Depiction (2017)] It's much more significant than behind-the-scenes [of The Promise (2016)], because we basically describe the depth of the denial - to some extent. I think it's actually deeper than is even reflected in the documentary, but this is as close as a documentary has ever gone into the denial. And then it also talks about the depiction of atrocities, and how it's been handled over the years, and the attempts to suppress the depiction... so I think it's really important for people to see that. [2017]
- [on people's reactions to The Promise (2016)] I have to tell you, I'm so honored by the outpouring of support. We did this as a visual museum. And when you build a museum, you don't start counting the box office on day one. It's not for 2 days. It's for a 100 years. And so, we're honored. [2017]
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