Whatever Dreams They Had: Film Screening and Discussion

Join Atlanta History Center and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights for a film screening and panel discussion on filmmaker Stephanie Ayanian’s newest work, Whatever Dreams They Had. Admission is complimentary, but reservations are required.

This screening will take place in Kennedy Theatre inside of Atlanta History Center. Please use the front entrance to access the screening.

Immigrants and refugees escaping the atrocities in Syria often arrive in America with no support and little knowledge of how to navigate the complex systems in a foreign, English-speaking country. A tiny fraction in Los Angeles are lucky enough to meet an Armenian-Catholic priest named Father Armenag. An immigrant himself, he is troubled by memories of the family members he lost to ISIS, and quietly carries his grief as he tirelessly works to aid new arrivals and secure their lives in America.

Promotional language provided by the production company.

Juliette Stapanian Apkarian is Associate Professor of Russian Studies at Emory University.  Founding chair of the Department of Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures (REALC) at Emory University, she is also a core member of the Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, and holds affiliated appointments in Film and Media Studies; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and the PhD Program in Islamic Civilizations.   Her research centers on interrelationships among the arts, and between politics and culture in the regions of Russia and the Caucasus from the late 19^th century to the present. Her publications include Mayakovsky’s Cubo-Futurist Vision and interdisciplinary studies of cultural dynamics in contexts of conflict and revolutionary social change. She has worked with a wide range of local, national, and international initiatives as a project director and as a consultant. 

Stephanie Ayanian is the producer and co-director of “Whatever Dreams They Had.” Her feature documentary “What Will Become of Us” was broadcast on PBS stations across the country and in film festivals, including the Black Maria Film Festival. It follows Armenian Americans as they navigate the 100th Anniversary of the Genocide and strive to forge identities for the next century. Her films have been Official Selections of Munich International, Seattle International, Napa Valley, and Slamdance film festivals.

Jill Savitt, the President and CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, is a human rights advocate with expertise in genocide and atrocity prevention. She assumed this leadership role in March 2019, but has been involved with The Center since 2010 when she curated the Center’s exhibit on global human rights before the Center’s opening in 2014.

Previously, Savitt was the Acting Director of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The Center stimulates global action to prevent genocide and to catalyze an international response when it occurs. Before taking on this role and since 2010, Savitt was a Senior Advisor at the Museum. In this role, she curated the Museum’s Wexner Center, which presents exhibitions about contemporary genocides, served on the team working to revitalize the Museum’s permanent exhibition on the Holocaust; and also managed a range of public education initiatives for the Museum.

In 2007, before working as a consultant, Savitt founded and directed Dream for Darfur, a high-profile advocacy campaign that pressed the Chinese government to take specific actions regarding the Darfur crisis in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Games. The New York Times Magazine profiled Savitt and the initiative. Dream for Darfur was widely recognized for influencing the Chinese government to change its policies on Sudan in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics.

Savitt was the Director of Campaigns at Human Rights First from 2001 to 2007. She developed a campaign that recruited retired military leaders to bring US policies on torture and interrogation into compliance with US and international law. Earlier in her career, Savitt was the Communications Director at the Ms. Foundation for Women where she ran the successful “Take Our Daughters To Work” campaign.

Savitt taught, for three years, a course on human rights advocacy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

She began her career as a reporter for WAMU, the NPR affiliate in Washington, DC. Savitt graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Stephanie Ayanian is the producer and co-director of “Whatever Dreams They Had.” Her feature documentary “What Will Become of Us” was broadcast on PBS stations across the country and in film festivals, including the Black Maria Film Festival. It follows Armenian Americans as they navigate the 100th Anniversary of the Genocide and strive to forge identities for the next century. Her films have been Official Selections of Munich International, Seattle International, Napa Valley, and Slamdance film festivals.

Joseph Myers co-directed “Whatever Dreams They Had.” His body of documentary film work covers topics including domestic violence, human rights law, cultural survival, and sustainability. Joe’s work has been seen on PBS, WORLD, NETA, APT, and the Discovery Networks among others. Some honors include Mid-Atlantic National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Emmy awards, festival awards, and multiple selections for the INPUT international public television meeting. Joe is a fellow of the CPB/PBS Producer’s Academy. He also works as a storytelling consultant to lawyers and is an accomplished inventor and product designer. Joe believes that good stories change people.