SAN DIEGO — On April 24, 1915 the Ottoman Empire arrested approximately 250 prominent Armenians and deported them a month later to the Turkish interior where most of them were killed. Armenians annually commemorate April 24th as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. There are few movies about the genocide because Turkey has pressured countries to halt their production, limit their distribution, or undermine their reception. On the eve of Germany’s invasion of Poland, Hitler informed his generals of plans to massacre many Poles to achieve German living space concluding with this haunting question: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” I’ve prepared this list to promote its memory and international recognition.
Note: Other important films like Ararat and The Lark Farm are not available for streaming.
1915: Armenian American directs a play about the genocide that is haunted by its ghosts. Google Play, iTunes, YouTube.
1915: Aghet-The Armenian Genocide
Architects of Denial. Documentary about Turkey’s denial that the Armenian genocide happened. Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Tubi, Vudu, YouTube.
Armenia, My Love: A epic tracing the childhood of an Armenian boy who loses his family in the genocide but immigrates to the United States where he becomes a famous artist.
The Armenian Genocide: PBS documentary on the genocide.
Army of Crime: True story about an anti-Nazi resistance movement consisting of Armenian and Jewish immigrants in occupied France. Amazon, Google Play, Tubi, Vudu, YouTube.
The Cut: An Armenian blacksmith is initially deported to be a slave laborer and then left for dead. After the genocide, he embarks on an international quest to find his missing daughters. Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube
Forty Days of Musa Dagh: Low budget adaptation of Franz Werfel’s eponymous novel about the Armenian revolt in Musa Dagh.
Germany and the Secret Genocide: Germany was the Ottoman Empire’s ally in World War One and failed to stop the genocide.
Intent to Destroy: Documentary about the Armenian Genocide. Amazon, Hulu, Sling, Starz.
The Promise: Epic drama about the genocide as experienced by an Armenian medical student, an American journalist, and the woman they both love. Amazon.
Lost Birds: A brother and sister survive on their own after returning home to their village and discovering their parents and their neighbors are no longer there. Amazon, Vudu.
Music to Madness: The Story of Komitas: Documentary about the musician and ethnographer who preserved Armenian folk music but went mad from his ordeal during the genocide. Amazon.
Ravished Armenia: A 1919 silent film starring a young woman who survived the genocide. Only parts of the film remain.
Screamers: Concert about the Armenian genocide and more recent genocides by the group System of a Down.
The Son of the Olive Merchant: Documentary about a French Armenian returned to Turkey to find out what happened to his family during the genocide.
Tabu: Star crossed love of an Armenian American man and a Turkish woman who must confront the historical memories that prompt their parents to oppose the relationship. Amazon
They Shall Not Perish: Documentary about the Near East Relief, the organization which raised millions of dollars to save orphaned Armenians. Amazon.
Turkey: The Legacy of Silence: Documentary about Turks discovering their Armenian ancestry.
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Laurie Baron, Ph.D, is professor emeritus of European History at San Diego State University; a humor columnist (in his own name and in that of his dog Elona), and is an authority on Jewish-themed movies, particularly those dealing with the Holocaust. To see an archive of his stories, please click on his byline at the top of this page. He may be contacted via lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com
Thanks Laurie for this great list of films and for including Tabu and Music to Madness – the Story of Komitas.
Thank you for the list of movies made about the Armenian Genocide.