Carla Garapedian is a documentary filmmaker. She directed "Children of the Secret State" about North Korea and was an anchor for BBC World News. After leaving BBC World, she directed "Dying for the President" about Chechnya, "Lifting the Veil," about women in Afghanistan, "Iran Undercover" (Forbidden Iran for PBS Frontline World) and "My Friend the Mercenary" about the coup in Equatorial Guinea.
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Lifting the Veil is a 50-minute documentary that was partially funded by Channel Four in the UK. The filmmaker traveled to Afghanistan to investigate the public murder of Zarmina, an Islamic mother of seven. Her abusive husband was going to tell the Taliban that she had committed adultery, a crime punishable by death. She killed him in self defense and was sent to prison. Her seven children, all under the age of 15, were persuaded by the Taliban to find their mother guilty. Garapedian searched out the children, who provide commentary. Lifting the Veil was originally broadcast on British television in 2002.
Screamers was a documentary feature film released in early 2007.[1] This features the band System of a Down and depicts genocides of the past century, with a focus on the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Also mentioned are the Jewish Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, and the genocide of the Darfur region. The movie examines the problem of why genocides repeat, with contributions from Pulitzer prize-winning author Prof. Samantha Power (A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide). The film consists of a tour with SOAD interspersed with cut scenes of genocides. [2] In addition to its theatrical release in the US, the film has been translated into 12 languages and shown in political venues like the U.S. Congress, British Parliament, European Parliament and United Nations (UNHCR).[3] After the film's release, one of the contributors in the film, Hrant Dink, an editor for Agos Newspaper, was murdered in Istanbul, Turkey.
Garapedian has received numerous awards for her piercing documentaries. On February 27, 2009, AGBU honored Garapedian with GenNext's "Community Hero award." Garapedian accepted the award for her film Screamers, a critically acclaimed documentary about System of a Down's efforts to raise Armenian Genocide awareness in the minds of mainstream audiences. During her acceptance speech, Garapedian said:
| “ | There is always that one person, that angel, that mentor, who is there for you at that crucial juncture of your life. I know how important it is to have a mentorship program. It really mattered to me to have a mentor and I know it matters to our young people." [4]" | ” |