Amerikatsi
Description
In 1947, Charlie repatriates back to Armenia only to be greeted by the harsh reality of Soviet Communism. The soul of Armenia has been suffocated beneath the iron curtain. Almost immediately Charlie is arrested for the absurd crime of wearing a tie by a jealous Russian Commander whose wife has taken a liking to him. To further ensure Charlie doesn’t influence any of the other prisoners with his “cosmopolitan” ways, he is placed in solitary confinement.
Just as Charlie appears to be succumbing to the terror of his situation, he discovers that he can see into a nearby apartment building from his cell window. The Armenian couple who live there become Charlie’s only connection to the outside world. Every chance he gets he watches them, living vicariously through the details of their lives, sharing meals with them, laughing, crying, singing and dancing with them—all the while discovering the Armenian culture he never knew.
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Trailer
Biographies
Michael Goorjian is an Emmy Award winning actor, writer, and filmmaker of Armenian decent, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Michael won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in David’s Mother alongside Kirstie Alley. He is also well known for playing Neve Campbell’s love interest, Justin, on the Golden Globe winning series Party of Five, as well as Heroin Bob in the cult classic SLC Punk. Recently he starred alongside Robert De Niro in HBO’s The Wizard of Lies. Other film & television credits include: Newsies, Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr., Forever Young with Mel Gibson, Leaving Las Vegas, Hard Rain with Morgan Freeman, Broken with Heather Graham, Lucifer, Covert Affairs, Lie to Me, House, Alias, Monk, and CSI to name a few.
As a director, Michael achieved international acclaim for his award-winning feature film debut, Illusion, in which he starred along side Hollywood-legend Kirk Douglas. Soon after, Michael began collaborating with the publishing company Hay House to helm a number of productions, including; the documentary You Can Heal Your Life starring Louise L. Hay, The Shift starring Wayne Dyer and the Limited Series Tales of Everyday Magic. Michael’s most recent film, Amerikatsi was shot in Armenia in 2020. It has won over 10 awards at recent film festivals, including the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the Woodstock Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Hamburg Film Festival. Amerikatsi is set to be released in theaters in 2023.