VOYAGE TO AMASIA is a feature-length documentary inspired by Eric Hachikian's piano trio of the same name. Amasia, Turkey is the town where Eric's grandmother, Helen Shushan, was born. In 1915, when she was 40 days old, the Ottoman government exiled Helen and her family and most of the other Armenians in Amasia and forced them to walk south towards the Syrian Desert. This was just one instance in a systematic Ottoman campaign to deport and execute Armenians. An estimated 1 -1.5 million Armenians died between 1915 and 1923. It was the first genocide of the 20th century -- the Armenian Genocide. 　　 　　Helen and her family miraculously survived and eventually reached the United States. When Eric was growing up, Helen told him the stories about Amasia that she had heard from her mother. She told him it was the most beautiful place in the world. 　　 　　Helen always longed to return to Amasia. She never did, though, because Turkey denies the occurrence of the Genocide and she decided she could not go back to a place that doesn't acknowledge what happened to her and her family. 　　 　　When Helen died in 2004, Eric wrote Voyage to Amasia as an imagined musical journey with his grandmother to a place they both only knew through stories and photographs. The piece premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2005, and when filmmaker Randy Bell heard it, he suggested that, using the music as an inspiration and guide, the two make a real voyage to Amasia. 　　 　　The filmmakers spent nearly a month traveling through Turkey and Armenia, following Eric's family's exile march from Amasia to Malatya, and ultimately to Istanbul. The filmmakers also visited modern-day Armenia and explored Yerevan and a village in Armenia settled by exiles from Amasia after the Genocide. 　　 　　The film traces a path through the past, telling Eric's family's story, the story of the current people of Turkey and Armenia, and how the Armenian Genocide affects Turkish, Armenian, and American politics today. 　　 　　“Voyage to Amasia” performed by 　　Pauline Kim Harris, violin 　　Christine Kim, cello 　　Orlando Alonso, piano 　　 　　The Voyage to Amasia Orchestra: 　　 　　Eric V. Hachikian, conductor 　　Christine Kim, music contractor 　　 　　violins 　　Pauline Kim Harris, concertmaster 　　Conrad Harris 　　Tom Chiu 　　David Marks 　　Conway Kuo 　　Emily Bruskin Yarbrough 　　Christina Courtin 　　 　　violas 　　Daniel Panner 　　Max Mandel 　　Mark Holloway 　　 　　cellos 　　Christine Kim 　　Greg Hesselink 　　 　　bass 　　Peter Donovan 　　 　　music engineer 　　Gary Chester 　　 　　assistant music engineer 　　Mark Bengtson 　　 　　recorded at 　　Downtown Music Studios 　　New York, NY