“A Road Less Traveled” (The Handjian Story)

Armenian Genocide Film Takes Top Awards at Moondance Film Festival
LOS ANGELES—The ANC-WR announced today that the Genocide documentary titled “A Road Less Traveled” (The Handjian Story) won the Best Feature Documentary as well as best Film Score awards at the internationally renowned Moondance Film Festival on May 18. The film which documents the eyewitness accounts of two Armenian Genocide survivors Kourken Handjian of Erzinga, and Malvine (Papazian) Handjian of Izmir, was selected the winner—among 5 finalists in the Feature Documentary category. It also won in the film score category amongst eight final competitors. The film’s producer Denise Gentilini was on hand, with her special guest Malvine Handjian who is featured in the film, to accept the awards at the Boulder Colorado Awards Gala.

Gentilini stated that while she is thankful to be honored for her talents she, nevertheless, believes that the wound of the Armenian Genocide still continues today by Turkey’s ongoing campaign to deny that it ever happened—and is hopeful that films such as this will continue to educate people about the truth, and the need to act firmly to prevent and punish those who commit such great crimes against humanity.

ANC-WR Board member Steven Dadaian hailed the awards as “a validation, not only of the fine fimmaking and musical talents of Denise Gentilini, but as yet another example as to how Genocide affirmation is not just fought in the halls of Congress but also in the realm of American culture and public consciousness. The film joins the works of Peter Balakian, Samantha Power, Carol Edgarian, J. Michael Hagopian, and Atom Egoyan in educating the public about the evil of genocide in general and the particular pain felt by Armenians. I am hopeful that the film will find its way onto PBS and other broadcast outlets nationwide”

About 2,500 screenwriters, film directors and producers from around the world participated in the festival. The festival, voted the third most important film festival in the world after Cannes and Sundance in the Filmmakers Alliance online poll of over 150,000 international film industry professionals, has garnered the attention of film studios and producers from Los Angeles and New York including Jodie Foster and Francis Ford Coppola.