Vodka Lemon

  • This is a past program

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, we dedicate 2015 to an exploration of multiple facets of Armenian culture, history, and landscape through film in our series I Am Armenian. Learn more about I Am Armenian.

The central character in this comedy set amid a snowy Yazidi Kurdish village in post-Soviet Armenia is Hamo, a widower with three worthless sons. Hamo is so poor that he’s about to sell off his treasured military uniform when he meets Nina, a lovely widow who works at the village’s sparsely attended bar, Vodka Lemon, which is about to close. Selected to play at the Toronto Film Festival and in MoMA’s New Directors / New Films Festival. (2003, Dir. Hiner Saleem, 88 min.) 

A Q&A with filmmaker Dr. Carla Garapedian of the Armenian Film Foundation and linguistics scholar Amir Sharifi follows the screening. Complimentary coffee, tea, and Armenian pastries will be served after the program.

All Hammer public programs are free and made possible by a major gift from the Dream Fund at UCLA. 

Generous support is also provided by Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy, Good Works Foundation and Laura Donnelley, an anonymous donor, and all Hammer members. 

The Hammer’s digital presentation of its public programs is made possible by the Billy and Audrey L. Wilder Foundation.