Kim Kardashian, Serj Tankian, Christian Bale and Angela Sarafyan attended a special event hosted by The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA in West Los Angeles, an entity that will establish a world-class research center and platform for public outreach about Armenia while integrating and expanding the university’s existing Armenian studies offerings and connections to that country.
The institute, which has been in the planning phase for several years, is being created with a $20 million gift from the estate of well-known philanthropist and entrepreneur Kirk Kerkorian.
Before his death in 2015, Kerkorian financed and served as executive producer of the film “The Promise,” a personal passion project raising awareness of the 1915 Armenian genocide
The movie starred Oscar Issac, Angela Sarafyan, Charlotte Le Bon and Christian Bale.
The new institute will serve as a national hub for human rights education and advocacy.
The decision to contribute proceeds from the film was led by Dr. Eric Esrailian, lead producer of The Promise and a faculty member at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
“The Armenian genocide must never be forgotten, and this need was one reason why we made The Promise,” Esrailian said in a statement.
“However, human rights tragedies — in Syria, the Congo and South Sudan and a global refugee crisis — continue to unfold today,” he added.
Esrailian added: “The Promise Institute is so named because UCLA and the UCLA School of Law are making a commitment to keep the promise to the victims of human rights abuses — that we will create the tools and train people of integrity and talent to address these crises. Out of the darkness of the Armenian genocide and our film, we will bring light into the world to help people who need it today.”
