We've come a long way to tell this story...

2016 - The Early Tales

Our friend Serj, working long days as a delivery driver, would return each evening with stories from behind countless doors—funny, strange, and quietly revealing. These real-life encounters immediately caught the attention of Armen his creative writer friend, who began to see in them the seeds of something deeper. What started as casual storytelling soon evolved into the early idea for a short, "Chekhovian" piece leading to Armen eventually taking notes and recording Serj's voice for reference.

2017 - A shift in Reality

With Trump taking office and enactment of the travel ban marked a turning point, as members of Armen's community, (Many of them Iranian) suddenly found themselves unable to travel freely. What was once a routine connection between two worlds became uncertain and, in some cases, impossible. A colleague of Serj chose not to visit his dying father out of fear that he wouldn’t be allowed back into the United States. These personal experiences carry emotional weight pushing things beyond observation into something more urgent, where personal lives are directly affected by political decisions. The story of the courier driver hence evolves into something bigger.

2018 - First Draft

Armen completes the first full draft of the screenplay, centering on an Iranian family in Los Angeles whose fragile balance is disrupted when the mother travels abroad to see her dying father and fails to return due to travel restrictions. Unable to afford day care, the father and his four-year-old daughter are forced to navigate daily life together, bringing her along on his delivery routes. In this early version, the story leans heavily into the realities of exploitative labor, expensive childcare and working class hardships in general, while beginning to shape the emotional core of a father and daughter learning to survive in an uncertain world.

2019 - Trials and Errors...

As Armen continues refining the screenplay—then titled When Mom Was Away—he begins seeking funding, but his day job eats most of his time and momentum slows. To help attract collaborators and investors, he creates a proof of concept, filming himself alongside his four-year-old daughter in the lead role, offering a first visual glimpse into the film’s tone and relationship at its core. Despite these efforts, financial constraints, relocation, combined with the arrival of his second child—shift priorities and temporarily pause the project’s steady development.

2020 - A World Interrupted...

The COVID-19 pandemic reshapes everything. Armen loses his father during this time, a personal loss that deeply alters his perspective. As Democrats take over the government, the urgency that once fueled When Mom Was Away begins to fade. At the same time, the devastating Artsakh War shifts his focus entirely. Faced with global upheaval and personal grief, the project is ultimately set aside and officially shut down.

2021 - A Different Direction

Armen travels to Armenia, stepping away from fiction to document the aftermath of war in a deeply personal project titled A Road Trip Through The Storm. Returning to fulfill his late father’s wish to rest in the homeland, he journeys through border villages, refugee settlements, and devastated communities. This experience also deepens his understanding of the region’s ancient history—the cultural roots that connect his ancestry to the Iranian highlands, and the layered identities of the many ethnic groups who inhabit this landscape. Though far removed from When Mom Was Away, the journey ultimately enriches Armen’s perspective, adding depth and authenticity to the characters and world that would later evolve into The Loquat Tree.

2024 - Loss and Resolve

Serj, whose stories first sparked the seed of the film, passes away after a battle with cancer. His loss leaves a deep void for Armen and their close circle, marking a moment of grief and stillness. Yet within that pause emerges a renewed sense of purpose—a quiet but firm vow to carry his story forward. As the world grows increasingly unstable, with geopolitical tensions pulling at the fragile connection between Armen’s place of birth and where he lives, the personal and the political begin to intertwine more than ever. This convergence inevitably reshapes the story, grounding it in both memory and the shifting realities of the present.

2025 - A Story Expands

The political landscape shifts once again as Trump’s reelection brings renewed relevance to themes of travel restrictions and aggressive immigration enforcement. What once felt like a closed chapter begins to reopen, now layered with heightened urgency. By the summer of 2025, escalating tensions between United States and Iran introduce yet another dimension, expanding the narrative into a broader geopolitical context. What began as a quiet, intimate study of a father and daughter starts to evolve into something much larger—a sociopolitical reflection of its time. Yet this expansion raises a central question for Armen: how to hold onto the film’s human core without allowing it to dissolve into the noise of current events.

November 2025 — The seeds are here!

Armen arrives at a defining image: planting the seeds of a tree—an idea that reshapes the entire film and gives it a new name, The Loquat Tree. With this shift, he begins rewriting the screenplay, weaving in the evolving realities within the country and the tensions between United States and Iran. The story finds a new center—one that balances personal memory with a changing world. Soon after, Armen gathers a group of artists and collaborators from his community under one roof, sharing the vision and the significance of the project. This moment marks the first official announcement of The Loquat Tree.

December 2025 — The Loquat Tree

Armen brings together a group of collaborators to present the early idea, with a clear goal: to produce a single, powerful proof of concept that can demonstrate the film’s potential to future funders. The team selects a vivid scene—a Russian family’s New Year celebration, where Christmas decorations still linger, capturing a lively, layered, and distinctly Chekhovian moment. Preparations prove challenging, especially with a limited budget, as the scene requires scale and authenticity—nearly 40 extras and over a dozen principal talents. Despite the constraints, casting begins and the groundwork is laid for what would become the film’s first ambitious step toward realization.

January 2026 — The First Shoot

Casting for the Russian New Year party scene comes together with remarkable success—an ideal location, a strong ensemble of actors, and a sense of energy that carries through every department. Despite limited resources, the production achieves a richness that feels far greater than its means. The shoot stretches late into the night, wrapping around 3 a.m., but the result makes the exhaustion irrelevant. What was once the most complex and ambitious scene on paper is now fully realized on camera—marking a major milestone in bringing the world of the film to life.

February 2026 — Reality Overtakes the Story

Editing begins on the proof of concept, while additional scenes are filmed to shape a cohesive vision of the project. At the same time, the world outside shifts dramatically. The devastating news of the massacre of Iranian protestors is soon followed by outbreak of the 2026 Iran war—sparked by large-scale strikes in late February—This not only reshapes the global landscape but reverberates deeply through our story as well. What was once a narrative inspired by past events is now unfolding in real time. As tensions escalate and uncertainty grows, the film is no longer just observing reality—it is being carried by it, evolving alongside a world that refuses to stand still.

March 2026 — The Countdown

With the proof of concept complete and the Kickstarter campaign fully prepared, the project enters a decisive phase. Producers begin testing the waters—strategizing releases, refining materials, and locking in timelines. April emerges as the moment to step forward. After years of development, setbacks, and transformation, everything now builds toward a single point. The countdown begins.