Los Angeles City Council Council President Paul Krekorian welcomes the filmmakers of AMERIKATSI to Los Angeles City Council on December 8, 2023. AMERIKATSI is a comedy-drama starring, written, and directed by Michael A. Goorjian and is Armenia’s official submission to the 96th Academy Awards® for Best International Feature Film. The film was shot in Armenia by People of Ar Productions. Goorjian, whose own grandparents fled the Ottoman Empire, is an Emmy Award-winning actor best known for PARTY OF FIVE, SLC PUNK and starred alongside Kirk Douglas in the first film he wrote and directed, ILLUSION, in 2004.
"This is an extraordinary film that I recommend, highly," said Council President Paul Krekorian. "For all of us who come from immigrant communities, and understand the challenges of assimilation here in the United States, this is a film that will speak to you. For anybody, Armenian or not, who’s struggling with that feeling of being disconnected from your background, this is a film that will speak to you.”
“The theme of this film is about being seen. The more we see someone else, and the more we learn about another person or culture, and once we can see, it's in our nature to start caring about them. The City of Los Angeles is one of the most diverse cities in the world, so to be invited to Los Angeles City Hall by Council President Paul Krekorian, and to share our collective story, is truly remarkable.” -Michael Goorjian
Armenia has never had their submission shortlisted for the Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards® and voting for the shortlist begins on December 14 and it would be the hope Armenia needs right now to be included. Recent Armenian submissions include SONGS OF SOLOMON (2020), SHOULD THE WIND DROP (2021), and AURORA’S SUNRISE (2022).
AMERIKATSI centers on Charlie (Goorjian), who returns to Armenia in 1948, decades after fleeing to the U.S. as a child due to persecution by the Ottoman Empire. What he finds instead is a country crushed under Soviet rule. After being unjustly imprisoned, Charlie falls into despair, until he discovers that he can see into a nearby apartment from his cell window - the home of a prison guard. As his life unexpectedly becomes entwined with the man's, he begins to see that the true spirit of his homeland is alive in its passionate people. Filled with warmth and humor, AMERIKATSI celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the bonds that unite us all.
AMERIKATSI also stars Hovik Keuchkerian (MONEY HEIST), Nelli Uvarova, Mikhail Trukhin, Narine Girgoryan, and Jean-Pierre Nshanian, and is produced by Goorjian, R. Patrick Malkassian, Arman Nshanian and Sol Tryon, with executive producers Vartan Barsoumian and Serj Tankian. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Woodstock Film Festival and the Audience Award at the 2022 Hamburg Film Festival ahead of its U.S. premiere. Variance Films (RRR, DRIVE MY CAR) is handling distribution within the US and Amadeus Entertainment is on international sales.
