“Aurora’s Sunrise” (Armenian: “Արշալույսի լուսաբացը”) begins with a series of title cards that provide context to the film. In 1919, Hollywood produced a silent film, “Auction of Souls,” which later on became a box office hit. The film was based on the true story of Aurora Mardiganian (Arshaluys Mardigian), a teenage Armenian genocide survivor.
Soon after the box office success, however, all copies strangely disappeared. It wasn’t until several months after Aurora’s death in 1994 that fragments of “Auction of Souls” were rediscovered. This film, thus, is an attempt at using those fragments to retell Aurora’s forgotten story.
And to add to the mystique: Mardiganian herself acted in the film.
She relived her tragedy so she could save her nation. With a statement this succinct, director Inna Sahakyan goes for the jugular from the get-go. “Aurora’s Sunrise” is a harrowing story of a survivor whose experiences were one of heartbreaking proportions; and which deserve to be told, not only to educate about the past, but also to remind people that the evils of the past need never be forgotten and—more importantly—denied.
‘Aurora’s Sunrise’: Retelling a Long-Forgotten Story
In making “Aurora’s Sunrise,” Sahakyan and her team had ample support from The Zoryan Institute, a non-profit organization focused on public awareness relating to issues affecting universal human rights, including genocide. Zoryan, in turn, provided a crucial level of research and financial support in the making of the film—with the movie itself based on the organization’s Oral History archive.
Using 2D animation to tell Mardiganian’s story, the filmmakers combine it with footage of the actual Aurora in her old age as well as fragments of the lost silent picture. In the beginning of the film, we see an elderly Aurora wistfully unrolling an old movie poster, before the scene transitions to the animation of her as a 17-year-old attending the premiere of “Auction of Souls.” For the admiring fans and moviegoers, she was simply an actress starring in a breakout role.
“But I wasn’t an actress. I was not acting,” Aurora says, her firm voice betraying a compartmentalized pain waiting to resurface.
“I was reliving.”
A Traumatic Past Brought by a Horrifying Genocide
“Aurora’s Sunrise” then goes back to 1915, when 14-year-old Aurora (then Arshaluys Mardigian) lived with her family in western Armenia, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Theirs was an idyllic family: enjoying swimming, running in the fields, eating together, and performing plays in their yard. As Aurora remembered, “Our family was full of color.”
When warned by their Kurdish shepherd that the Turks have started kidnapping Christian Armenians, Aurora’s father chooses not to heed the former’s advice to hide the family in the mountains. Why should we run to the mountains, he asked. He’d rather die in his home; otherwise, “I’d be a coward.”
Only days later, however, soldiers fetch the father and the eldest son to send them to war for the Ottomans. What soon follows involves Armenians of the province attacked and expelled. Those who survive must undertake a long trek across the desert in hopes of finding somewhere safe. Aurora recalls the gendarmes telling the women and children they needed to trek somewhere safe, but seeing the reality that it was actually a death march to the Syrian desert. Those who couldn’t go on were left to die of hunger, fatigue, and thirst.
On the road, the family would encounter more and more Armenians dragged from their homes; and it was then Aurora realized the same horrors were happening everywhere. And as history recorded, Armenian deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to robbery, rape, and massacres. Others would then be abducted and sold.
Within a few months, Aurora lost her entire family.
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Bringing Her Story to the World Stage
A series of events—coupled with luck, opportune timing, and utter courage—allowed Aurora to escape and finally go to New York. Using the time to better herself while looking for her brother (who had been living in the US when the war broke out) so they could reunite, she attracts the attention of the press.
Her story became a media sensation, with Hollywood eventually calling. This time, they wanted her to act in it, and have an Americanized name. Not wanting to compromise the Armenian origins of her surname, she nonetheless agreed to modify it to help others pronounce it better. As for her name, ‘Arshaluys’ means ‘morning light’ in English. Hence, they settled with ‘Aurora’.
Starring as herself in “Auction of Souls,” Aurora became the face of survival; thereby drawing the world’s attention to the suffering of the Armenians. When asked by American journalists which hurt more between losing her family and seeing the slaughter of her nation, Aurora answered pointedly.
“The people are my nation.”
‘Aurora’s Sunrise’: Acknowledging the Evils of History is More Important Than Ever
At a time when misinformation and disinformation can easily sway public opinion on what’s real and what’s fiction; Sahakyan’s “Aurora’s Sunrise” is a harrowing reminder to stand for the truth. As history showed, the cultivation of a political relationship between the U.S. and Turkey contributed to the conversations about the genocide fading into oblivion. And it’s frustrating that even now, despite the historical and academic consensus, some nations continue to deny that the Armenian genocide ever occurred.
Finally, the fortunate discovery of 18 minutes’ worth of surviving footage from “Auction of Souls”—along with interviews with Aurora herself—helps create a clearer picture of a horrible part of human history. And it’s a history that some people still try to deny and ignore to this day. Sahakyan and her team weave the footages, interviews, and animation so seamlessly. The result gives the audiences an arresting narrative that drives home the importance of not forgetting, and of using one’s voice to stand in solidarity with those who can’t.
A heart-wrenching retelling of a long-forgotten story of survival, “Aurora’s Sunrise” is one of the best films of the year.
“Aurora’s Sunrise” is Armenia’s official selection to the 95th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. It made its North American premiere at the Animation is Film festival in Hollywood, and will have its next screening at the IDFA.
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