From operating rooms in Siberia to green rooms at the Grammys, Ani Hovannisian has traveled the world producing and directing non-fiction stories for television and other programs, including How’d They Do That?, The Home Show, Extra, Most Fascinating Women of the Year, Amazing Medical Miracles, Behind the Scenes at the Grammys, Name Your Adventure, Willard Scott’s Home and Garden Almanac, KABC News and others. She was also a reporter and anchor for Tele-Nayiri and Horizon Armenian news programs for more than a decade.

With a BA in Mass Communications (UCLA, Phi Beta Kappa), an MA in Broadcast Journalism (USC) and extensive producing experience, Hovannisian embarked on a life-long dream to make a documentary that brings the silenced Armenian story to life for vast television audiences. After four journeys to the forbidden ancestral Armenian homeland and years of independent post-production, Hovannisian completed The Hidden Map, which has achieved the rare distinction of national distribution on PBS. Since its highly-acclaimed 2022 PBS premiere, the documentary has been broadcast about 2000 times across the nation. The Hidden Map has earned more than a dozen international awards and honors at festivals and special screenings, notably one in the UK Parliament. Following its popular 2021 debut on NBCLX, it was considered for three Primetime Emmys, including Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. 

Hovannisian is currently in pre-production on a documentary that highlights the extraordinary humanity of the Kerr family, made famous by NBA Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr, but inspired by the exceptional goodwill of his grandparents, Stanley and Elsa Kerr, who saved thousands of Armenian orphans after the Genocide and continued in service of others throughout their lives.

Hovannisian is a member of the Directors Guild of America, Television Academy, and International Documentary Association. She is actively involved with the Armenian community in California and worldwide. Her genocide-survivor grandparents and her parents, Professor Richard and Dr. Vartiter Hovannisian, are her anchors. Ani and husband Armenio have two children, Sophene and Daron, named after the ancestral Armenian lands of their great-grandparents.

ani.storydoc@gmail.com