Sareen Hairabedian | Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor
Sareen 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. Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the IDA Awards 2018. 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. Sareen is a 2023 fellow at Video Consotium x DocNYC and Creative Armenia.
Azza Hourani | Producer, Sound Recordist
Azza Hourani is a Jordanian producer and assistant director with over 15 years in the industry. A 2011 graduate of the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts, she has worked with National Geographic, the Doha Film Institute, MBC, and various global non-profit organizations. Azza produced MY SWEET LAND by Sareen Hairabedian, an IDFA Spotlight Award winner in 2021 (Sheffield DocFest, 2024). Her assistant director credits include notable films like Ali Abbasi's HOLY SPIDER (Palm d’Or nominee 2022), Abu Bakr Shawky's HAJJAN (TIFF 2023), and Amjad Al Rasheed's INSHALLA A BOY (Cannes 2023). Azza is currently developing her third short film, aiming for production by the end of 2024.
Julie Paratian | Co-Producer
Julie Paratian created SISTER Productions (an anagram of RESIST) with emphasis on an international, feminist and militant approach. Julie has a 20-year experience in international co-productions with countries ranging from Greece, Srilanka, Belgium to Tunisia, Jordan and the USA. She has produced around thirty documentary and fiction films noticed in major festivals: from debut films to later works with experienced directors, TV or cinematic pieces as well as art films, all of SISTER’s works take strong political stances and explore unique cinematic expressions. Her latest release was CAITI BLUE directed by Justine Harbonnier (ACID Cannes 2023), THE CASTLE by Martín Benchimol (Berlinale – Panorama), UNDER THE LEAVES by Florence Lazar (awarded at Cinéma du Réel 2024).
David Rane | Co-Producer
David is a BAFTA and IFTA-winning producer, whose main focus is social issue docs for cinema and international co-productions. His work includes IN LOCO PARENTIS (School Life) 2016 (IDFA and Sundance); YOUNG PLATO, 2022 IDA and BIFA nominees, screened at 65 festivals, and won 15 awards; MUCH ADO ABOUT DYING, directed by Simon Chambers (IDFA, 2022, Best Directing Award) GIRL TAKEN, Paramount Plus UK in July 2022. Current features include THE ALEXANDER COMPLEX, directed by Neasa Ní Chianáín, which premiered at Thessaloniki in 2024, and MY SWEET LAND, directed by Sareen Hairabedian. David is regularly a panelist and guest speaker at festivals and film industry conferences, is a member of the pre-selection jury for the PGA awards, and expert assessor for Eurimages.
Beth Levison | Executive Producer
Levison is an award-winning producer/director based in NYC. Most recently, she executive produced GRAND THEFT HAMLET (SXSW 2024 Grand Jury Prize winner for Best Documentary Film) and produced A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY (True/False 2024). Her 2022 producing effort, THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT, premiered at Sundance, launched on Netflix, and was nominated for a 2023 Academy Award (Best Documentary Short), while STORM LAKE, which she directed alongside DP Jerry Risius and also produced (Independent Lens, 2022), was shortlisted by the IDA as one of the best films of 2021. Other producing credits include Emmy-nominated MADE IN BOISE (Independent Lens, 2020), Emmy-nominated PERSONAL STATEMENT (PBS, 2018), and 32 PILLS (HBO, 2017). Levison is a co-founder of the Documentary Producers Alliance, teaching faculty with Sarah Lawrence College, and a member of the Academy.
Hallee Adelman | Executive Producer
Hallee Adelman is a children’s book author, documentary filmmaker, and co-founder of World of HA Productions. She served as executive producer on the Emmy-winning documentaries The Social Dilemma and Art & Krimes by Krimes, Oscar-nominated Writing With Fire, and Sundance Festival Favorite Daughters. Hallee directed and produced Our American Family, a documentary selected for Deadline’s “For the Love of Docs” series, about one family’s fight against generational addiction amidst the opioid crisis. She recently completed a term as a Board member of the International Documentary Association. In all her work, her goal is for children, teens and storytellers to have opportunities to imagine boundlessly, discover strengths, and create conversations for a better world. Hallee resides in Pennsylvania (USA) with her husband, daughters, and dogs.
Raphaëlle Martin-Holger | Editor
Raphaëlle Martin-Holger is a French editor born in Paris. For the past 15 years she has been cutting both fiction and documentary films in France and internationally while working with foreign directors and productions. Some of her feature films include; DIAMANTINO directed by Gabriel Abrantes & Daniel Schmidt, recipient of the Grand Prix in Semaine de la Critique at Cannes Festival, 2018; MADE IN BANGLADESH directed by Rubaiyat Hossein, nominee for best Contemporary World Cinema Award at TIFF, 2019. She has also edited historical archival documentaries for Arte; REVOLUTION ECOLE 1918-1939, 2016; LA FABRIQUE D’ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, 2018. Some of her other features and shorts have screened in festivals such as Venice Film Festival, Acid Cannes Festival and other renowned European festivals.
Tigran Hamasyan | Composer
Tigran Hamasyan is considered one of the most remarkable and distinctive jazz-meets-rock pianists/composers of his generation. Hamasyan seamlessly fuses potent jazz improvisation and progressive rock with the rich folkloric music of his native Armenia. Born in Gyumri, Armenia, in 1987, his musical journey began in his childhood home at the age of three. Tigran won the Montreux Jazz Festival’s piano competition in 2003. He released his debut album, World Passion, in 2004, the following year, he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. His Nonesuch debut, Mockroot (2015), won the Echo Jazz Award for International Piano Instrumentalist of the Year. Tigran’s new conceptual album ‘The Bird of a Thousand Voices’, is an intriguing immersive light installation with shadow play, digitally programmed voices, live music, and an Armenian-English libretto, that will have its world premiere at Holland Festival in 2024. Hamasyan has built a dedicated following worldwide, as well as praise from Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau and the late Chick Corea. (photo: Vahan Stepanyan)