This 2024 documentary film — written, co-produced, edited, and directed by Sareen Hairabedian — follows 11-year-old Vrej, living in Nagorno-Karabakh. His life takes a sudden turn when war erupts and he is forced to flee.
Nagorno-Karabakh was a disputed, mountainous region in the South Caucasus claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan, which was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but de facto ruled by ethnic Armenians until a 2023 Azerbaijani military operation and subsequent mass exodus of the Armenian population. The conflict, rooted in centuries of ethnic and religious tensions, saw full-scale wars in the 1990s and 2020, leading to a humanitarian crisis and the dissolution of the Armenian-backed de facto republic, known as Artsakh, on January 1, 2024.
Commentary by Sarah Stites (Ayo! Program Director, Fund for Armenian Relief)
Moderator: Dr. Elyse Semerdjian (Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies; Professor, Department of History)
Sponsored by the Friends of the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Professor in Armenian Genocide Studies
