Main Street, Park City

Being in Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival (and all of the stuff going on around it, like Slamdance) was definitely an exciting and memorable experience. It was amazing to see the US premieres (and in several cases the world premieres) of the newest indie films and not knowing if you just saw a movie that will be the next big thing or a movie that will never be seen again by anyone who didn’t see it here. I found myself genuinely hoping for all of the movies I saw to receive the highly sought after distribution deals, especially after the Q&A sessions with the directors, casts, and crews. They all put so much passion, heart, and effort into an endeavor that may be their big break, but could also come to nothing. I have even more respect now for the amount of work that goes into making a film and especially into making one that makes it to this level. I also feel like I have a slightly better grasp now on the ever-elusive term “independent film.” (more…)

Atafeh and Shireen

One has to remember how lucky we have it. We can listen to the music we like, and to love the people we want to love. For some that is not so true.

In Maryam Keshavarz’s ”Circumstance” she looks at the burgeoning sexuality between two Iranian young woman. Atafeh (Nikohl Boosheri) an upper class young Iranian woman who family lives a more liberal lifystyle and Shireen (Sarah Kazemy), who lives with her grandmother and uncle in a moderate apartment. The two explore their sexuality through an underground music and alternate lifestyle scene (where Atafeh’s friends ask her to help them dub “Milk” and “Sex and the City“).  

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