2010 documentary film on the Armenian Genocide by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It is based on eyewitness reports by European and American personnel stationed in the Near East at the time, Armenian survivors and other contemporary witnesses which are recited by modern German actors.
Acting
German actors channel eyewitnesses with chilling restraint.
Direction
Friedler lets silence do what narration cannot.
Editing
Archival footage weaves personal accounts into collective horror.
Director
Eric Friedler
Martina Gedeck
Alma Johansson
Sylvester Groth
Martin Niepage
Sandra Hüller
Tacy Atkinson
Burghart Klaußner
Jakob Künzler
Charlotte Schwab
Karen Jeppe
Ludwig Trepte
Hambardzoum Sahakian
Friedrich von Thun
Henry Morgenthau
Hannah Herzsprung
Tagouhi Antonian
Hermann Beyer
Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg
Hanns Zischler
Leslie Davis
Thomas Heinze
Oscar Heizer
Gottfried John
Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein
Samuel Finzi
Johannes Lepsius
Stefan Kurt
Raphael Lemkin
Peter Lohmeyer
Wilhelm Litten
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film's 2010 release reignited Turkish-German diplomatic tensions and sparked renewed debates about genocide recognition in the Bundestag.
Director Eric Friedler's own grandfather was a German officer in the Ottoman Empire during the genocide years—a fact he discovered mid-production.
DE
