After Freedom

Set in Glendale, California's Armenian-American community, AFTER FREEDOM follows Michael Abcarian (Mic Tomasi), a young man torn between a sense of
duty to his recently widowed, out-of-work father (Greg Satamian) and his neighborhood friends, and the pursuit of a life outside of the Armenian immigrant community that has always been his support system. The film also stars Sophie Chahinian (also the executive producer) as Michael's love
interest Anna, an independent young woman who is determined to follow her dreams even if it leads her far from their close-knit community and Anahid L. Shahrik as Michael's sister Nora, who has already made a life for herself away from Glendale. Michael is often at odds with the morals of Avo (Shant Bejanian), a small time hood and the aggressive leader of Michael's circle of friends which includes Mato (Ionannis Bogris), a young man impressed with Avo's swaggering machismo and obsessed with finding a way to smuggle his brother into the United States at any price.

"... a heartfelt... honest... feature from LA-based Armenian filmmaker Vahé Babaian... expressing the cultural dislocations and conflicting emotional demands... sets off unusual cultural frissons, and the dramatic urgency is
happily unencumbered by an artificial sense of desperation." Todd McCarthy, Variety.