‘A Winter’s Song’ brings Armenian joy, grief, holiday magic to the big screen

At its Warner Bros. premiere, the indie Christmas rom-com showcased the power of culture, community and diasporic storytelling, brought to life by a cast that became family on and off screen.

By Taylor Nicole Price

USC Annenberg Media

Though it feels like a distant memory now, there was once a time when Christmas blockbusters dominated Hollywood’s winter slate. Families bundled up and braved the cold to watch films like “Home Alone,” “Elf,” and “This Christmas,” films so warm and communal that the casts themselves appeared like real families.

“A Winter’s Song” belongs to that lineage. The cast spent Christmas together in Armenia and even left with matching tattoos. It is the kind of movie where you walk away forever associating the actors with their characters as siblings, parents and lovers because the chemistry is that effortless, that lived-in, that real.

“A Winter’s Song” is a charming, feel-good Christmas romantic comedy set and filmed in Armenia. It made its world premiere at this year’s Armenian Film Festival, where it stood out as a landmark moment for Armenian cinema. The film follows Liana (Krista Marina), a struggling musician who travels from Los Angeles to her father’s homeland seeking clarity. What she finds — through culture, music, food, land and community — changes her life. The film is equal parts romance, homecoming and personal pilgrimage, wrapped in the nostalgia and tenderness of the holiday season.

Armen Karaoghlanian, USC alum and founder of the Armenian Film Society and Festival, moderated a Q&A with the cast after the premiere, saying that for independent films, “it’s a miracle every time one gets made.”

This miracle began in the mind of writer and producer Angela Asatrian who lives in San Diego. She recalled how misunderstood her homeland often is.

“People would ask me, ‘Angela, where are you from?’” she said. “And I say, ‘Armenia.’ And they’re like, oh, Albania? What is it like? Is there desert? Are there camels?”

After completing her documentary “Armenian Spirit,” a film exploring the 2020 Artsakh War, she felt compelled to create something joyful, something uplifting that Armenians could see themselves in, she said, “and show the world the beauty of our country, our culture, and our music.”

On Nov. 24, the film premiered on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. The temperature hovered at 58 degrees and guests arrived in their winter best, furs, floor-length gowns and tuxedos. Some had traveled from as far as Orange County. The red carpet outside and the reception inside felt almost like a portal into the film’s two worlds of Los Angeles and Armenia.

The movie mirrors the emotional terrain of the season: grief, memory, anticipation and reflection. It reminds viewers to slow down, to return to their “why” and to remember what truly matters. “A Winter’s Song” becomes both a journey into Armenia and a journey inward.

The cast and crew’s bond is visible onscreen and tangible off-screen. Producer and actor Edgar Damatian was the glue connecting the creative team.

“These are my friends,” Damatian said. “These are who I work with closely and who I trust the most. . . We all had the same mindset, the same goal—to make the best movie possible. And I think that’s what you see on screen.”

Last December, the ensemble traveled to Armenia from all over the world. Actress Jessie Bedrossian flew in from London.

“Armenians are a very small minority,” Bedrossian said. “Armenian creatives are an even smaller minority. I never really saw myself represented on screen or in the theater. To immerse myself in my culture in a way that complements my art—it’s a dream come true.”

She smiled as she recalled their holiday abroad. “Spending Christmas with these guys, who are literally my best friends now, was incredible. We toured our country, we ate great food, and being in Armenia at Christmas — it’s a different kind of magic,” Bedrossian said.

That sentiment echoed across the cast. Many had never visited Armenia in the winter, and making a holiday film there only deepened the experience. Krista Marina, who stars as Liana, said simply, “It’s something I’ll take with me forever.”

Music is central to the film and to Marina’s performance. A musician herself, she performed at the 2024 Armenian Film Festival. “When I first heard about this project, I thought it was too good to be true, a role for a musician. I know Liana. I understand her. I feel I am her,” she said.

Not only did she act, but she also performed throughout the film and wrote original music, including the standout song “Yeraz.”

“That song poured out of me,” Marina said. “To bring it to life with Arman, and to hear him weave it into the score, felt like bringing all my passions together.”

Judah McFadden, lovingly dubbed the “honorary Armenian brother,” plays Arthur. “This is my third movie with Edgar,” he shared. “When he told me he was making a film about his country and explained the history… it wasn’t something I grew up learning about in Colorado.”

Editor, producer and USC professor Yvette Amirian felt the project filled a cultural gap.

“I was excited because we didn’t have anything like this in our culture,” Amirian said. “It felt important to tell our story in a way that other communities could understand. To make something familiar, like a Christmas rom-com, but for Armenians, about Armenians.”

She smiled, recalling audience reactions. “To see people laugh in the right places… and at one point, my dad started crying. We wanted to touch people deeply, and seeing different audiences embrace it has been incredible.”

Amirian’s most memorable screening was the one at her old elementary school. “Watching it with the eighth graders there, where my kids go now—that was really special.” And as for her six-year-old? “He has it memorized. That alone means the world to me. I didn’t have anything like this growing up.”

Producer Annie Dashtoyan had never worked on an Armenian project before. “I was looking for something closer to my heart,” she said. “Working on big IPs and sequels gets repetitive. This script felt universal. I’ve never seen representation like this for Armenians on this scale, where even non-Armenians relate. It just felt right and getting to work with my friends was the icing on the cake.”

Arman Aloyan, who composed the score, spoke about how Armenian culture lives within his work. “A professor once asked if I was Armenian after hearing my music. Our identity is engraved in our work without us trying. Bringing Armenia and my love for music together on screen, just amazing.”

At the premiere, the audience’s reaction was immediate and heartfelt. Laughter, sniffles, applause. For the Armenian community around the globe, “A Winter’s Song” became a shared homecoming. Marina noted the power of hearing multiple dialects represented on screen: “As diasporans, we exist all over the world for many reasons. We have a tough history. When audiences understand a community’s joy, they feel its pain deeper. This film does that.”

For Karaoghlanian, the film’s reception carries a larger message. He is asked constantly why there aren’t more Armenian films or why they’re so hard to find.

“The response to this movie has been overwhelmingly positive,” he wrote in an Armenian Film Society newsletter. “It’s refreshing to see such genuine excitement. But this is the moment where we show that we want more of these stories. When we watch, share, and champion films like ‘A Winter’s Song,’ we signal to distributors and streamers that our stories matter and that there’s a true demand.”

After the screening, he urged viewers to watch early and pass it on, saying, “independent films need our support now more than ever.”

As the night wrapped, the cast stood shoulder to shoulder, friends who had become like family, dancing to traditional Armenian music, commemorating a film that celebrates home in all its meanings. Asatrian hopes to make a sequel, and based on the warmth in the room, the appetite is there.

“A Winter’s Song” is more than a Christmas rom-com. It is a love letter to Armenia, to art, to community, to diaspora, to memory and to the quiet magic of coming home for the holidays, even if it’s a place you’ve never been before.

The film is available to watch with a Wonder Project subscription on Prime Video and the music can be found here.