"My Sweet Land" New Film on Human Rights in Armenia to Premiere in Boston

When:
Thursday, Apr 24, 2025 7:15p -
9:30p

Where:
Somerville Theatre
55 Davis Square
Somerville, MA 02144

EventScheduled OfflineEventAttendanceMode

Admission:
$16

Categories:
Festivals & Fairs, Movies, Social Good

Event website:
https://iffboston.org/series/the-festival/screening/my-sweet-land/

Acclaimed new documentary film My Sweet Land, directed by Sareen Hairabedian, will have its Boston premiere at the Independent Film Festival Boston on Thursday, April 24 at 7:15 p.m with the director in attendance. This intimate exploration of childhood resilience and human rights in Armenia will screen at the historic Somerville Theatre in Somerville, Massachusetts. April 24 marks Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, a date that commemorates the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.


My Sweet Land is a coming-of-age story set against a multigenerational war in the post-Soviet Caucasus mountains following an 11-year-old boy named Vrej, who grows up in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and dreams of becoming a dentist in his picture-postcard village. But Vrej’s life takes a sudden turn when war erupts, forcing him to flee with his family.


The film will strongly resonate in Boston, home to one of the largest Armenian American communities in the United States with an estimated 30-50 thousand Armenians in the Greater Boston area. My Sweet Land had its U.S. premiere at the prestigious DOC NYC festival in November 2024, and was nominated for four International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards in the categories of Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Editing and Best Feature. Last fall, the Jordanian government withdrew their submission of the film for the 97th Academy Awards for Best International Feature due to diplomatic pressure.


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. 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. Hairabedian is a 2023 fellow at Video Consortium x DOC NYC and Creative Armenia.


Hairabedian writes: “Children bear the harshest burdens of war. My Sweet Land invites us to see them not as numbers, but as individuals with hopes and dreams who deserve to live in peace, rather than become victims of inherited conflict.”



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04/24/2025 19:15:00 04/24/2025 21:30:00 America/New_York "My Sweet Land" New Film on Human Rights in Armenia to Premiere in Boston <p>Acclaimed new documentary film&nbsp;<em>My Sweet Land</em>, directed by Sareen Hairabedian, will have its Boston premiere at the Independent Film Festival Boston on Thursday, April 24 at 7:15 p....

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