My Sweet Land

Sareen Hairabedian / United States, Jordan, France & Ireland / 2024 / 86 min

In the mountainous regions between Armenia and Azerbaijan lies the breakaway state of Artsakh, inhabited by ethnic Armenians. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Artsakh’s declaration of independence, the area has been in a continuous state of war with Azerbaijan. But for 11-year-old Vrej, the world is not yet defined by lines on a map. He lives with his siblings in the idyllic mountains, surrounded by birds and bees.

But in the distance, war is raging and when it breaks out in earnest, Vrej is forced to flee with his family. When he is finally able to return, it is to a changed world that confronts him and the other children with an adult world of conflict and war. A world that seeps all the way into school, where children and young people are trained to defend themselves in the future.

Director Sareen Hairabedian was born into a small Armenian community in Jordan. With her intimate, observational approach, she tells the story of Vrej and his family with presence, poetry and a critical eye for how conflicts tragically reproduce themselves.