By Mane Berikyan
Armenia’s selection for the 96th Academy Awards, Michael Goorjian’s Amerikatsi, seems to be Oscars-bound. For the first time in movie history, an Armenian film stands a real shot at an Oscar nomination in the “Best International Feature” category.
The team working on Amerikatsi’s Oscars campaign includes top firms which have represented Best Picture winners like Parasite and Everything Everywhere All At Once. They believe an Oscar nomination for Armenia is well within reach.
Amerikatsi tells the story of Charlie (played by Michael Goorjian), a survivor of the Armenian genocide who fled to the United States as a boy. Charlie repatriates to Soviet Armenia as an adult, where he is unjustly imprisoned. The film follows Charlie’s journey as it becomes entwined with that of an Armenian couple he watches from his prison cell, his only connection to the outside world and his homeland.
In order to receive an Oscar nomination, the film must first become one of 15 finalists on the short list, a selection done by Academy voters who “opt in” for the “Best International Feature” category. If shortlisted, the film will undergo another round of selection to become one of five Oscar nominees in that category.
“We are the first to actually engage with distribution and a PR team of this caliber that has received Oscars before, which differentiates us from any predecessor,” Patrick Malkassian, one of the film’s producers, told CivilNet.
According to Malkassian, the biggest challenge they face right now is funding.
“It’s a David and Goliath situation, and we’re very much an independent film in the pure sense,” Malkassian said. “We’re competing with countries like the U.K. and massive corporations like Amazon, and we’re purely independent and we’ve been self-financed so far.”
The campaign, in partnership with the Armenian Film Society, is accepting donations to support its efforts.
An Oscar nomination for Armenia would “help create a dialogue [through art] and better our position in the political arena throughout the world,” said Malkassian.
“In the context of the political situation we’ve been faced with in the past few years, the silence that the Armenian community has been confronted with on the international playing field has been deafening. It would give us a platform to have a voice.”
The film appeals in different ways to a wide variety of audiences, Malkassian told CivilNet. “I think that’s a story that resonates for so many people, no matter what ethnic background they have.”
Amerikatsi has sold out theaters across the United States and has received several awards in film festivals around the world. It is now available on major streaming platforms.
