A Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: name of the film
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Date: 2019
Director: Saumene Mehrdady
Producer: Mehrdad Sarlak
Writer: Saumene Mehrdady, Joel Villegas, Kevin Theal
Cinematographer: Justin Moore
Production Company: Chromosomes
Budget: NA
Financing: NA
Shooting Format: Anamorphic (Arri Alexa + Cooke Anamorphic lenses)
Screening Format: Digital
World Premiere: NA
Awards: NA
Website: NA
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Saumene Mehrdady (SM): Inspired by personal experiences growing up in an Iranian American diaspora family in the suburban outskirts of LA, Tehrangeles centers around a teenage boy, Nima, learning the difference between friends and “friends” on the day of his 17th birthday party, where he strays away from his family’s traditional celebration in efforts to impress the popular rich Persian kids from “Tehrangeles” he invited- but when they don’t show up, his neighbor Jaime inspires him to embrace what he has and recognize the true value of his heritage instead of pursuing an idealized and unrealistic vision of his culture.
The Official Trailer for Tehrangeles directed by Saumene Mehrdady
Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Saumene Mehrdady (SM): Tehrangeles has enjoyed a wonderful Oscar-qualifying festival run throughout 2020 starting in Feb. with Short. Sweet Film Fest in Cleveland, then Palm Springs Shorts Fest, Edmonton, Coronado Island, and currently the prestigious HollyShorts which we are thrilled to be a part of.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Saumene Mehrdady (SM): Living with his Persian family in the outskirts of LA, far from the glitz and glamour of the westside and the true “Tehrangeles”, teenage Nima anxiously awaits the popular kids from school he invited to show up- but when they don’t, and he’s instead stuck with what he considers his boring and out of touch family, he runs into his latinx neighbor Jamie who sympathizes with his teen angst, parallelizes his experience with his own, and shows him how to enjoy everything his culture has to offer- which is way “cooler” than trying to impress some rich kids who would be fake friends at best and manipulative bullies at worst.
Development & Financing?
Saumene Mehrdady (SM): I was approached by a member of an LA-based Iranian-american cultural group called the Farhang Foundation to write/direct a short film that they could finance and submit to the group’s annual film festival. I tapped into my personal experiences, which is unusual for me, to develop a concept that is both quintessentially Persian but also universally relatable to any child of diaspora living in and around LA.
Production?
Saumene Mehrdady (SM): The entire production was on a fast-track in order to make it to the group’s festival submission deadline. We did our entire pre-production and development in just a couple months and shot the movie over about a week or so in June 2019. When working with the cinematographer Justin Moore, whom I met in college and have collaborated with for almost over a decade, we decided to shoot anamorphic because we want the unique perspective and skewed image to reflect how Nima feels on the inside, as someone stretched between two poles of being Iranian or American. In addition, during post my other long-time collaborator Alex Verbitskiy helped us create a sound mix that emphasizes the warmth of Farsi dialog, alongside Mehrdad’s linguistic consulting and vision.
At the end, we feel we created something that feels as authentically “Persian” as, at the same time, it recontextualizes and redefines the term “tehrangeles” to include more than just the ritzy Shahs of Sunset glamor of West LA- something that represents the Iranian families like mine who grew up middle class in LA’s suburbs.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
Saumene Mehrdady (SM): Originally, we reached out to Rayka Zehtabchi (2019 Oscar-winner for Period) for language consultancy and she referred us to Mehrdad Sarlak, who rose above and beyond from just that to being a full-on producer for the movie, setting us up for a glorious festival run. Funnily enough, the cultural group ended up rejecting us to their festival, which ended up being a boon for us as Mehrdad stepped in and led us on a wonderful path screening at amazing fests like HollyShorts, Edmonton, and Palm Springs.
The Release?
SM: The movie premiered in Feb 2020 at Short. Sweet. Film Fest in Cleveland, OH. Just a month later, the lockdowns started, and our festival run continued virtually.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
SM: Pursue your own truths
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