SERJ TANKIAN: 'Elect The Dead' Videos To Be Shown On Big Screen

Serj Tankian — the visionary frontman for multi-platinum rock band SYSTEM OF A DOWN — has asked a collection of video and film directors, painters, and digital artists to each create a video for one of the 12 tracks on his forthcoming solo debut album, "Elect the Dead", which will be released on Serjical Strike/Reprise Records on October 23, 2007.

"For me, the great pleasure of 'Elect the Dead' has been not only to make the record with the pure vision of what I feel artistically through my music and poetry, but also to multiply the art factor by bringing in other great artists, in this case directors, and putting forth their interpretations of my music and words," Tankian says. "This serves two functions: to create more art from the original source, the album, and to offer more than just a CD to people interacting with the music, thus giving us more points of connection with each other."

The directors involved in the project include a prestigious array of artists whom Tankian has befriended over the last decade. They include music video director Tony Petrossian (TAKING BACK SUNDAY, SLIPKNOT, AVENGED SEVENFOLD),who shot the video for "Empty Walls", the first single from "Elect The Dead", photographer/video director Greg Watermann (MUDVAYNE, LAMB OF GOD, HOWIE DAY),Oscar-nominated Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter Jose Rivera ("The Motorcycle Diaries"),French film director Diran Noubar ("Armenia: A Country Under Blockade"),digital artist Roger Kupelian ("The Lord of the Rings"; "Flags of Our Fathers"),documentary director Sevag Vrej (SYSTEM OF A DOWN, FAIR TO MIDLAND),and Beirut-born filmmaker Gariné Torossian (SPARKLEHORSE),among others.

"I asked each of the directors for their visual interpretation of my work," Tankian explains. "They were asked not to write treatments and that they could make whatever they liked. The results have been overwhelmingly amazing!"

A complete list of videos and directors is below:

01. "Empty Walls" - Director: Tony Petrossian
02. "The Unthinking Majority" - Director: Tawd Dorrnfeld
03. "Money" - Director: Ara Soudjian
04. "Feed Us" - Director: Sevag Verj
05. "Saving Us" - Director: Kevin Estrada
06. "Sky is Over" - Director: José Rivera
07. "Baby" - Director: Diran Noubar
08. "Honking Antelope" - Director: Roger Kupelian
09. "Lie, Lie, Lie" - Director: Martha Colburn
10. "Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammo" - Director: Greg Watermann
11. "Beethoven's C***" - Director: Adam Egypt Mortimer
12. "Elect The Dead" - Director: Gariné Torossian

All 12 videos will be shown at the following locations on Monday, October 22 beginning at 8:00 p.m.:

Elect The Dead: The Short Films - Theater Listening Parties (visual Interpretations of the debut solo album from Serj Tankian)

Herricks Cinema
3324 Hillside Avenue
New Hyde Park, NY

Parsippany Cinema
3165 RT 46
Parsippany, NJ

Embarcadero Center Cinema
1 Embarcadero Center Promenade Level
San Francisco, CA

Ultrastar Theatres Mission Valley
7510 Hazard Center Drive
San Diego, CA

Kendall Square Cinema
One Kendall Sq Bldg. 1900
Cambridge, MA

Century Centre Cinema
2828 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL

Emagine Novi
44425 W. 12 Mile Road
Novi, MI

Clearviews Anthony Wayne Cinema
109 W. Lancaster Avenue
Wayne, PA

Metro Cinemas
911 N.E. 50th Street
Seattle, WA

The River Oaks
2009 West Gray
Houston, TX

Lagoon Cinema
1320 Lagoon Avenue
Minneapolis, MN

Harkins Tempe Marketplace
2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway
Tempe, AZ

For ticket information, visit www.DandEentertainment.com.

"Empty Walls" video: