Film by bisexual Iranian American director showcased at Tribeca and Sundance
Independent Aggregator of Iran-related news/Events, Kodoom.com: Iranian-American actor, writer, director Desiree Akhavan has wowed critics by having her films showcased at both Tribeca and Sundance film festivals this year. An out bisexual, Akhavan, a native of Brooklyn, New York of Iranian immigrant parents, is well known for her writing, directing and starring in 2014’s “Appropriate Behavior” where she plays a young Persian, bisexual woman from a traditional family who is rebuilding her life after a break-up with her girlfriend. Recently in February’s Vice feature by Charlotte Gush, Desiree states, “I think powerful men in Hollywood will be afraid. And I like that.”
Akhavan has regularly appeared in her own work since after writing, directing, and acting in the lesbian-themed web series The Slope, for which she and Ingrid Jungermann, her creative partner, were named to Filmmaker's 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2012.
Akhavan’s latest screenplay, co-written with Cecilia Frugiuele, “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and showcased at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The film is based upon Emily M. Danforth’s 2012 novel about a young girl’s experience at a gay conversion therapy center. Despite the fact that the practice of conversion therapy to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identification for minors in the U.S. has been discredited and banned in some places in the U.S., there are still over 40 states with no laws or regulations against it, according to MAP, the Movement Advancement Project which was founded in 2006 to promote equal rights for the LGBT community.
View Tribeca’s Panel Discussion about conversion therapy and “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha Lane, Jennifer Ehle, John Gallagher Jr., Forrest Goodluck:
Separately, TIME’S UP and the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival teamed up to host a day of conversations to promote equality and justice in the workplace with industry leaders Julianne Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Ashley Judd, and many others. TIME’S UP is a unified call for change from women in entertainment for women everywhere.
Related to Cinema:
- Golshifteh Farahani Uncensored: Recent videos, Interviews, Picture with new husband
- In Pictures: Farhadi, Panahi and Farahani push Iran to center stage in Cannes 2018
- In Pictures: ISIL horsemen enter plush Tehran Mall, Hatamikia apologizes
- Oliver Stone visiting Iran?
- Farhadi's new film with Cruz and Bardem to open Festival de Cannes (video)
- Golshifteh Farahani at 2018 Cesar Film Awards (video)
- In Pictures: Fashionable actresses defy Hijab in Iran's Fajr Film Festival
- Leila Hatami Among 25 Best Female Movie Performances of the 21st Century
- Yara Interviews Hillary About Issues Facing Women
- HBO's Game of Thrones Leaked by Iranian Hacker, US Claims
- Exiled Iranian actress defiantly reveals body in Instagram
- 1st Born, First Iranian American film project features Kilmer, Baldwin, Abdo
- From Tehran Taboo to Kiarostami's Last Film, Iranian Films at Vancouver International Film Festival 2017
- Nine Iranian among new members of the Oscars
- Putin interviewed by Oliver Stone
Related to Iranian American:
