Spirits of the Crane

Comps: THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (2004) meets HEREDITARY. Like THE GODFATHER, SCARFACE, and ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, this film uses a cultural lens, in this case Armenian-American, to explore universal themes of immigration, justice, belonging, and institutional corruption in America. World: In 1992, during the Iran/Contra scandals, a parallel reality exists where government black sites operate beyond constitutional oversight, using breakthrough neuroscience to weaponize human consciousness itself. Defense contractors are harvesting memories like digital files, erasing inconvenient witnesses, and implanting compliant personalities. But some cultural traumas run deeper than technology can reach - embedded in bloodlines that remember what history tries to forget. Story: At dawn in 1992, Los Angeles, ARMAN MANOOKIAN (27), an Armenian-American Marine veteran, is detained by federal agents under a FISA warrant alleging plans to assassinate Turkish officials. The real reason is to extract his knowledge of three illegal covert actions using experimental consciousness technology. Defense contractors from the Bland Corporation, armed with a secret court mandate, intend to harvest his memories of unauthorized CIA wars against Iran, Turkish diplomatic and intelligence collaborations in Armenian Genocide denial, and connections to his executed cousin KOKO KASSARDJIAN (29) – a Justice Commandos member who chose martyrdom for genocide recognition. Through flashbacks, we learn Arman has inherited psychic abilities and that Koko was framed by the Grey Wolves (Turkish intelligence) working with the CIA and FBI. As Arman undergoes torture and memory extraction, his latent abilities resist the procedures. The quantum technology is designed to extract only conscious memories permanently, leaving his subconscious psychic powers to amplify exponentially. When contractors attempt to implant false memories, Arman uses his amplified abilities to project terror directly into their minds, causing fatal heart attacks through psychological shock. Meanwhile, allies AIDA KASSARDJIAN (30, Koko's sister and attorney) abandons legal protocols for political extortion, while former CIA operative JOHN KIZIRIAN (65) transitions from institutional loyalty to rogue operative, both working to secure Arman's release through senatorial blackmail. Before release, Arman receives an experimental memory-erasing serum. In the Dominican Republic, the FBI attorney who framed Koko becomes an instant flashback in Arman’s fractured mind. Using his enhanced psychic abilities, Arman kills the attorney through the same psychic methods as before. John completes his transformation by executing the last Bland Corporation scientist, placing the CIA in a Catch-22: any retaliation against John or Arman exposes the illegal consciousness extraction and mind control programs to congressional oversight hearings, revealing unauthorized wars, torture operations, and collusion with Turkish intelligence to deny genocide. Returning to Los Angeles, Arman discovers the experimental serum failed to fully erase memories tied to ancestral trauma, leaving fragmented psychic echoes. He recovers his identity through rediscovered family photographs, enabling him to have psychic communications with deceased relatives. SUSAN BAGDESARIAN (27), who earlier walked out after offering him a choice between his warrior path or building a family with her as a post-genocide survival strategy, reconciles with him as he shifts from cultural shame to heritage pride. At Koko's grave, Arman vows to preserve his Armenian identity. The film concludes with the 2019-2020 congressional Armenian Genocide resolutions delivered over one hundred years after the events. SPIRITS OF THE CRANE is a thriller that transcends traditional revenge narratives, exploring how intergenerational trauma and geopolitical conspiracy can ignite a profoundly personal, psychic war for justice and identity. It offers universal themes of resilience to assimilation pressures and memory preservation through a unique cultural lens. It delivers catharsis, regardless of one’s ethnicity, making the medium the message. DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction inspired by the enduring spirit of the Armenian diaspora and the broader human struggle with historical trauma, its after-effects, and systemic injustice. While the story draws upon elements of recorded history, it presents them through an entirely fictional lens to explore universal themes of resilience, identity, and the pursuit of truth. The characters named Arman Manookian, Harry Kizirian, John Kizirian, and Ernest H. Dervishian are fictional portrayals created in tribute to the remarkable service and contributions of Armenian-American veterans in art, heroism, and military service. They are not direct representations of their real-life namesakes. Similarly, the characters named Kemal Aliriza and Bluent Arikan are wholly fictional and are not based on, nor intended to represent, any actual persons. They serve as composite representations to reflect documented patterns of rhetoric and geopolitical complexity, and not to defame any specific individual, group, or nation. Any similarities to actual persons, living or deceased, or to actual events are purely coincidental, except where limited historical facts—such as congressional resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide or publicly available records of documented atrocities which are referenced for thematic or contextual purposes. This story is intended as a universal exploration of how the echoes of history shape the present, as seen through the fictional journey of its characters.