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 a patriotic education preparing 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 had shaped their resilience across generations.

Cast & Crew
Producers: Azza Hourani, Sareen Hairabedian, Julie Paratian (co-producer), David Rane (co-producer)
Director: Sareen Hairabedian
Script: Sareen Hairabedian
Director of Photography: Sareen Hairabedian
Music: Tigran Hamasyan
Sound: Tom Efinger
Editing: Raphaëlle Martin-Holger, Sareen Hairabedian
Cast: Vrej Khachatryan, Anzhelika Khachatryan, Arman Khachatryan, Anzhela Azryan, Artak Khachatryan, Gayane Sargsyan

Awards
Spotlight Award, IDFA, 2024

Sareen Hairabedian
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. FF and was nominated in the category of Best Documentary Shorts at the International Documentary Association 2018 Awards. My Sweet Land is her debut feature-length documentary and has been supported by ITVS, ARTE, International Documentary Association (IDA), Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (AFAC), Jordan Film Fund, CNC and others. Sareen Hairabedian founded her production company HAI Creative in 2016, through which she engages in international co-productions, and works with organizations and broadcasters such as: Sesame Workshop, HBO, Wounded Warrior Project, Apple, Al-Jazeera, Aurora Prize and others.

Filmography
We Are Not Done Yet (doc., 2018), Mount Ararat: A Second Chance (doc., 2019), We Carry on (doc., 2024), My Sweet Land (doc., 2024).