J. Michael Hagopian was born in Kharpert-Mezreh, located in the Turkish Ottoman Empire. He survived the Turkish extermination of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 and dedicated his life to the visual documentation of the Armenian Genocide. Dr. Hagopian earned a doctorate in international relations from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He also completed two years of graduate work in cinema at USC.
In his 97 years, Dr. Hagopian wrote, directed and produced more than 70 educational and documentary films that collectively won more than 160 national and international awards, including two Emmy nominations for the writing and production of The Forgotten Genocide. He was the catalyst for the establishment of the Armenian film Foundation in 1979. The Foundation has been awarded grants from the California Endowment for the Humanities, Milken Families Foundation, United States Office of Education and the Ethnic Heritage Program, Arshag Dickranian Foundation, the George Ignatius Foundation, Alex Manoogian Foundation, J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation, ARCO Foundation and California State Department of Education.
During his lifetime, Dr. Hagopian received numerous honors, including Jewish World Watch’s “I Witness” Award for dedicating his professional life to chronicling the Armenian Genocide, the Arpa Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award. The Armenian National Committee honored him as Man of the Year twice, once in 1984 and again in 2000.