Michael Goorjian, writer & Director
Michael Goorjian is an Emmy Award winning actor, writer, and filmmaker born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Michael won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in the television movie 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. Most 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, The Invisibles, Lucifer, Covert Affairs, Lie to Me, House, Alias, Monk, CSI, Without a Trace to name a few. As a stage actor/choreographer, Michael has won numerous awards, including; an L.A. Weekly Theater Award for Best Lead Actor in Modigliani, and a LA Critics Choice Award for choreographing the world premiere of Reefer Madness the Musical. Most recently Michael appeared at Berkeley Repertory Theater in their 2017 World premiere of Imaginary Comforts by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket). As director, Michael achieved international acclaim for his award-winning feature film debut, Illusion, in which he starred along side Hollywood- legend Kirk Douglas (as well as some other guy named Bryan Cranston).
Arman Nshanian, Producer
Arman Nshanian has been producing films in Armenia for over ten years. With his company People of Ar Productions, he specializes in accommodating foreign productions from around the world who wish to film large scale films in Armenia and its surrounding territories. Having worked in Hollywood for many years, he is fluent in providing the production needs for big budget films. Some of the films he’s helped bring to Armenia include: The Heretic, Vigilante Diaries, and Songs of Solomon which was his directorial debut. He produced the film alongside academy award winning producer Nick Valellonga, the writer and producer of the academy award winning film “Green Book”. Songs of Solomon went on to become the official selection for the country of Armenia at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Sol Tryon, Producer
Sol is an American filmmaker specializing in independent feature films. He began his career in NYC in the late 90’s and produced his first feature, Bomb The System, in 2003, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for best first feature. Sol has since produced numerous award-winning films, including Weapons, Explicit Ills, Starlet, 2012: Time for Change, Here Comes The Night, Monogamish, Weed The People, The Reunited States and Land of Dreams. His directorial debut, The Living Wake, earned critic praise as well as numerous awards at top film festivals and was released theatrically across the US and abroad. Sol currently lives in Ojai, California with his wife and two children and aspires to create meaningful stories that can resonate with audiences from around the world.
Patrick Malkassian, Producer
Patrick Malkassian was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated from UCLA in 1993 and continued his studies and internship in Europe and Africa. He is the founder of a global trading business linking farm to fashion which encompassed Europe, Africa, Central America, and Asia. California real estate development has been his latest endeavor. He is an active investor and advisor in a wide range of industries in the U.S. and abroad.
Vartan Barsoumian, Exec Producer
Based out of Las Vegas, Nevada, Vartan Barsoumian is a businessman, entrepreneur, real estate developer, and philanthropist, who has been involved in many cultural and political projects. He has played a pivotal role in furthering the Armenian Genocide awareness in the State of Nevada and is a Legacy Council of the Armenian American Museum and Cultural Center of California. Through the promotion of the “Made in Armenia” brand, one of Vartan’s goals is promoting Armenia as a center and destination for world-class film production, especially for the Hollywood companies. Vartan Barsoumian was born in Yerevan, moved to the United States when he was a young teenager, and decades later has recently established a home again in Armenia.
Serj Tankian, Exec Producer
Serj Tankian is best known as the frontman of the Grammy-Award winning group, System Of A Down. Throughout the years, Tankian's compositions have found themselves on screen for over a dozen film and TV productions. Some highlights include the Ridley Scott film Body of Lies starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Russell Crowe, William Friedkin's acclaimed film Bug starring Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, and the upcoming Terry George film that stars Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac. As a composer of film and video game score, Serj has two recent significant credits, with both productions being released in 2015. Serj composed all the music for the film 1915 which stars Simon Abkarian and Angela Sarafyan. Another recent project that Serj composed all the music for is the video game Midnight Star, which was produced by the creators of the seminal Halo video game series.
behind the scenes
