The Royal Film Commission (RFC) of Jordan withdrew its submission of an Armenian-Jordanian filmmaker’s documentary about Artsakh for the 97th Academy Awards’s Best International Film category last week, citing “diplomatic pressures.”
Director Sareen Hairabedian’s My Sweet Land (2024), a grim coming-of-age story following an 11-year-old ethnically Armenian boy named Vrej in the aftermath of the Second Artsakh War, was withdrawn in an alleged effort to nurture the growing ties between Jordan and Azerbaijan, as initially reported by Deadline.
In an interview with Hyperallergic, Hairabedian and producer Azza Hourani said that they received an email from the Academy notifying them of the withdrawal on October 10 without any further explanation, and that they had not been warned ahead of time by the RFC.
“We reached out to the Film Commission for an explanation, and they told us that they’ve been in the process of trying to appeal against the decision issued by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry after complaints and pressure from the Azerbaijani embassy,” Hairabedian explained.
She noted that the RFC had been very supportive of the film from the start, and even provided monetary support for the project in 2021 through its Jordan Film Fund initiative.
“We were told that the decision was made from a government order, and RFC’s hands were tied as there was no space to negotiate or appeal anything,” Hairabedian continued.
My Sweet Land premiered mid-June at the Sheffield DocFest in England before debuting in its home country at the RFC-produced Amman International Film Festival, where it won three awards in the Arab Feature Documentary category. Upon its screening and subsequent selection as the Jordanian entry for the Best International Film category at the Academy Awards, Azerbaijani media outlets began lambasting the film as slander and anti-Azerbaijani propaganda.
The filmmakers stated to Hyperallergic that My Sweet Land had been banned from screening in Jordan following pressure from Azerbaijan after the film festival.
Aykhan Hajizada, spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the government entity “welcomes” the decision to suspend the film’s screening in Jordan in a press statement, claiming that the documentary is “against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.”
Hajizada also stated that “there is no question of any pressure here” with regards to the RFC’s claim surrounding the withdrawal. “It was the independent decision of the Jordanian Royal Film Commission not to submit the film for the ‘Oscar’ award and to stop the screening of the film in Jordan,” he concluded.
Neither the RFC nor the Jordanian Foreign Ministry immediately responded to a request for comment.
In an interview with Hyperallergic, Hairabedian pointed out the “many parallels between what happens inside the film and what has surrounded the film in terms of its release,” referring to documentary protagonist Vrej’s displacement from Artsak (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh) in 2020.
The filmmakers added that a now-teenaged Vrej and his family have since evacuated Artsakh after the state’s dissolution in 2023 following Azerbaijan’s offensive attack, during which over 100,000 ethnic Armenians were forced out.
“In a way, it reminds me of what’s happening to us with every roadblock as we go through getting this film exposed and shown,” she continued. “This kind of censorship should not live into the day and age, especially when it’s really stories about the basic human rights of children who are just wanting to be living like children.”
On the other hand, Hairabedian said that the Academy has since approved My Sweet Land‘s qualifications to enter in the Best Documentary Feature Film category, with an Academy Award-qualifying premiere at Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles on November 29.
“We are deeply grateful to the Academy for allowing the film to qualify,” Hairabedian said. “As documentary filmmakers, the censorship that we faced, compels us more than ever to share Vrej’s story, which reflects the experiences of countless children around the world today, who deserve to dream freely without the threat of war and conflict.”
The Academy did not immediately respond to Hyperallergic‘s requests for comment.
Over in New York City, My Sweet Land is screening in-person and online through DOC NYC this coming weekend Hairabedian and Hourani will be present for a Q+A session after the screenings at Village East by Angelika.
