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Sunday, June 15
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM

Regal Gallery Place

701 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

My Sweet Land

Director

Sareen Hairabedian

Executive Producers

Beth Levison, Hallee Adelman, Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh, Carrie Lozano

Co-Executive Producer

Robina Riccitiello

Producers

Azza Hourani, Sareen Hairabedian

Co-Producers

Julie Paratian, David Rane

Editors

Raphaëlle Martin-Holge, Sareen Hairbedian

Consulting Editor

Co-Editor

Assistant Editor

Cinematographer

Sareen Hairabedian

Additional Cinematography

Music

Tigran Hamasyan

Sound

Narration

Contact

Sareen Hairabedian sareen@hai-creative.com, mysweetlandfilm@gmail.com

A coming-of-age story set against a multigenerational war in the post-Soviet Caucasus Mountains, My Sweet Land follows 11-year-old Vrej, growing up in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), who dreams of becoming a dentist in his picture-postcard village with its roaming ducks and golden bees. His sweet land, however, is strewn with mines from previous wars, shaping a country that remains unrecognized by the world. Vrej’s life takes a sudden turn when war erupts, forcing him to flee with his family. He spends his days in exile, impatiently waiting for victory, but reality takes a different turn: Armenians lose the war. Upon returning to his surviving village, he confronts the devastation, new power dynamics, and an education that prepares children for near-future battles. Vrej must learn the rules of war. But can he carry a nation’s hopes on his young shoulders? MY SWEET LAND is a testament to the people of Artsakh, where hope and trauma shaped their resilience across generations.

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Sareen Hairabedian

Director, My Sweet Land

Sareen Hairabedian is an Armenian-Jordanian documentary filmmaker based in the U.S. Through her intimate observational filming style, she captures the untold stories of the underrepresented. Sareen’s directorial debut, We Are Not Done Yet, was a 40-minute HBO documentary about U.S. veterans grappling with PTSD who use poetry to heal. It was acclaimed Best Documentary at the G.I. Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the IDA Awards 2018. MY SWEET LAND is her debut feature-length documentary, featuring one child’s journey through disillusionment, trauma, and hope. The film is supported by ITVS, ARTE, AFAC, IDA and others. Sareen was a 2023 fellow at DOCNYC x Video Consortium and Creative Armenia.

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