Film Screening: "My Sweet Land"

My Sweet Land is a coming-of-age story set against a multigenerational war in the post-Soviet Caucasus Mountains. It follows an 11-year-old boy named 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 to 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 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? The film is a testament to the people of Artsakh, where hope and trauma have shaped their resilience across generations.

Register for a post-screening lunch with Sareen here. 

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. Hairabedian’s directorial debut WE ARE NOT DONE YET is 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 is a 2023 fellow at Video Consortium x DOCNYC and Creative Armenia.

Presented by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, the Human Rights Program, and the Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Chair