LOS ANGELES: Celebrities of Armenian descent including Cher and the Kardashians lent their support this week to “The Promise,” a period drama centered around the massacre of Christian Armenians during World War One in what is now Turkey.
“The Promise,” out in US theaters on April 21, stars Oscar Isaac as an Armenian medical student and Christian Bale as an American foreign correspondent, both of whom fall in love with the same woman.
Their love triangle unfolds as the Ottoman Empire’s entry into the war is followed by the 1915 massacre of Christian Armenians.
“So many people, when confronted with a period film, they tend to ask that question ‘why is this still relevant?’” Bale told Reuters at Wednesday’s red carpet premiere in Los Angeles.
“You only have to look at the news to see sadly how relevant this story still is,” he added.
Terry George, who directed 2004 Oscar-nominated historical drama “Hotel Rwanda,” said shooting “The Promise” coincided with news of Yazidi refugees besieged by Islamic militants in northern Iraq and the mass exodus of Syrians attempting to flee the war-torn country for Europe.
“As we were shooting, we were watching the same events in the same location — people under siege in the mountains and drowning in the Mediterranean,” George said.
The nature and scale of the massacre of Christian Armenians remains a contentious issue.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians died in partisan fighting beginning in 1915, but denies that up to 1.5 million were killed and that this constituted an act of genocide, a term used by many Western historians and foreign parliaments.
Singer Cher, whose father was Armenian-American, joined reality TV stars Kim and Kourtney Kardashian at the premiere.
“There is something about people when they don’t see other people as human beings, then they objectify and then they can do anything to them,” Cher said about the massacre.
“Westworld” actress Angela Sarafyan, who plays Isaac’s wife in the film and is of Armenian descent, described the role as very personal.
“My great-great-grandparents fled to Syria, Aleppo to survive and to start a family and today, people from Syria, Aleppo leave to other places so they can live,” she said.
“One hundred years have gone by and that is still happening,” she added.
Kim Kardashian attends premiere of movie on 1915 Armenian massacre
Kim Kardashian attends premiere of movie on 1915 Armenian massacre
Sotheby’s to bring coveted Rembrandt lion drawing to Diriyah
DUBAI: Later this month, Sotheby’s will bring to Saudi Arabia what it describes as the most important Rembrandt drawing to appear at auction in 50 years. Estimated at $15–20 million, “Young Lion Resting” comes to market from The Leiden Collection, one of the world’s most important private collections of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art.
The drawing will be on public view at Diriyah’s Bujairi Terrace from Jan. 24 to 25, alongside the full contents of “Origins II” — Sotheby’s forthcoming second auction in Saudi Arabia — ahead of its offering at Sotheby’s New York on Feb. 4, 2026. The entire proceeds from the sale will benefit Panthera, the world’s leading organization dedicated to the conservation of wild cats. The work is being sold by The Leiden Collection in partnership with its co-owner, philanthropist Jon Ayers, the chairman of the board of Panthera.
Established in 2006, Panthera was founded by the late wildlife biologist Dr. Alan Rabinowitz and Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan. The organization is actively engaged in the Middle East, where it is spearheading the reintroduction of the critically endangered Arabian leopard to AlUla, in partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla.
“Young Lion Resting” is one of only six known Rembrandt drawings of lions and the only example remaining in private hands. Executed when Rembrandt was in his early to mid-thirties, the work captures the animal’s power and restless energy with striking immediacy, suggesting it was drawn from life. Long before Rembrandt sketched a lion in 17th-century Europe, lions roamed northwest Arabia, their presence still echoed in AlUla’s ancient rock carvings and the Lion Tombs of Dadan.
For Dr. Kaplan, the drawing holds personal significance as his first Rembrandt acquisition. From 2017 to 2024, he served as chairman of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage, of which Saudi Arabia is a founding member.
The Diriyah exhibition will also present, for the first time, the full range of works offered in “Origins II,” a 64-lot sale of modern and contemporary art, culminating in an open-air auction on Jan. 31 at 7.30 pm.
