'AFTER FREEDOM' A DRAMA SET IN GLENDALE'S ARMENIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY
pedro martori
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Margot Gerber
323.461.2020, ext. 115
'AFTER FREEDOM' A DRAMA SET IN GLENDALE'S ARMENIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY TO OPEN MAY 14 IN GLENDALE AND LOS ANGELES
Following a year on the festival circuit, including an Audience Award win at MethodFest, writer/director Vahé Babaian's independent feature film AFTER FREEDOM (2000, USA, 88 min.) will open at the LAEMMLE MUSIC HALL (9036 Wilshire Blvd.) in Beverly Hills and the Glendale Cinemas (501 N. Orange) in Glendale on May 14, 2004. AFTER FREEDOM is produced by Eric Sherman (Peabody Award Winner for Broadcasting, PBS series, FUTURES WITH JAIME ESCALANTE; and author of four books, including DIRECTING THE FILM). Berj Beramian (also the co-producer) and Sophie Chahinian are the executive producers. Gary Meek is the director of photography and Howard Heard and Tom Ohanian are the editors.
"Heartfelt, sensitive and always entertaining, AFTER FREEDOM is a compassionate and moving portrait of a community; its hopes, dreams, disappointments and small triumphs." - Oscar Nominated director Atom Egoyan
"I was impressed with AFTER FREEDOM. It seems unlikely to find a film in the MEAN STREETS genre that actually owes more to reality than to other movies. There was an existential urgency and truth to it that stuck with me." - director Wim Wenders
Set in Glendale, California's Armenian American community, AFTER FREEDOM follows Michael Abcarian (Mic Tomasi), a young man torn between a sense of duty to his recently widowed, out-of-work father (Greg Satamian) and his neighborhood friends, and the pursuit of a life outside of the Armenian immigrant community that has always been his support system. The film also stars Sophie Chahinian (also the executive producer) as Michael's love interest Anna, an independent young woman who is determined to follow her dreams even if it leads her far from their close-knit community and Anahid L. Shahrik as Michael's sister Nora, who has already made a life for herself away from Glendale. Michael is often at odds with the morals of Avo (Shant Bejanian), a small time hood and the aggressive leader of Michael's circle of friends which includes Mato (Ionannis Bogris), a young man impressed with Avo's swaggering machismo and obsessed with finding a way to smuggle his brother into the United States at any price.
AFTER FREEDOM , is a unique, raw and realistic portrait of the immigrant's on-going struggle to survive in America, after generations under communist tyranny.. Michael's father, like many immigrants gives up a good job in his own country to bring his family to the land of opportunity, only to be faced with the realities of being reduced to an outsider unable to find work or community standing equivalent to what he gave up. Michael is a grown man caught between his desperate need for identity and his sense of debt to those who got him to this country.
Los Angeles Times writer Kevin Thomas called AFTER FREEDOM "... taut, well-wrought drama... engrossing..." Variety's Todd McCarthy wrote: "... a heartfelt... honest... feature from LA-based Armenian filmmaker Vahé Babaian... expressing the cultural dislocations and conflicting emotional demands... sets off unusual cultural frissons, and the dramatic urgency is happily unencumbered by an artificial sense of desperation."
AFTER FREEDOM was an official selection of the Montreal and Avignon film festivals and as well as the Audience Award Winner at MethodFest where it was the first film ever to sell out three screenings.
Writer/Director Vahé Babaian was born in Abadan, Iran, to an Armenian family, he immigrated to America in 1976 after spending three years in war-torn Beirut, Lebanon. Much of his perspective on life is drawn from his experiences in the many different countries where he lived. In 1976, at the age of 16, he and his family finally arrived in America. However, the three years Vahé spent in Beirut changed his attitude and affected the type of story he wanted to tell and the kind of films he wanted to make. He is a graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. In his first narrative GENERATION APART, a 30 minute short that aired on KCET, Babaian explored the widening gap between parents and children as a family begins to acclimate to a new culture. AFTER FREEDOM is a continued exploration of that topic. This is his first feature film.
Screening cassettes, press kits and photos are available immediately. Press kit information is available at www.afterfreedom.com.
All talent is Los Angeles based and available for interviews. Please send an e-mail to mge...@bgerber.com with your mailing address if you wish to request materials or an interview.
Booking information is through Vitagraph Films: 310.390.0911.
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