Desiree Akhavan
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Notes on Camp: Desiree Akhavan on The Miseducation of Cameron Post, ADR Rewriting and 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up”
In Desiree Akhavan’s feature debut, Appropriate Behavior, the cowriter/director was front and center as Shirin, a young, bisexual Persian Brooklynite trying to figure out how to live her life, one sexually impulsive bad decision at a time. It was in keeping with the of-the-moment nature of The Slope, Akhavan’s reputation-making 2011 web series about a year in a lesbian couple’s New York relationship, in which she again costarred. Her sophomore feature, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, tackles new territory: It’s Akhavan’s first time working from an adaptation, first period piece and first time staying offscreen in her work. Miseducation was […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jun 11, 2018 -
DP Ashley Connor on Filming Sundance 2018’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Madeline’s Madeline
In 2017, cinematographer Ashley Connor had films she shot premiere at Tribeca, BAMcinemaFest and Sundance. She returns to the latter festival this year having shot two features. The first is The Miseducation of Cameron Post from director Desiree Akhavan, a ’90s-set teen movie starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Sasha Lane of American Honey. The film screens at the festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. The second film, from the NEXT lineup, is Madeline’s Madeline from writer/director Josephine Decker. Connor spoke with Filmmaker about filming both titles prior to their premieres at Sundance. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2018 -
Out of Order: Desiree Akhavan’s Appropriate Behavior
You’re ruining my birthday! You’re ruining my twenties! Let’s break up! Fine! The storm before the calm hits well into this film about a young Brooklyn woman in and (presumably) out of love. No spoiler this: In the first five minutes we learn that lovers Shirin (writer/director Desiree Akhavan), seen hastily packing, and Maxine (Rebecca Henderson) are going their separate ways. Desiree is going in the literal sense, to a less inviting apartment with two odd roommates attached in Bushwick; Maxine will remain in the love nest in tonier Park Slope that was already hers before they hooked […]
by Howard Feinstein on Jan 16, 2015 -
Podcast Alert: Appropriate Behavior Director and Star Desiree Akhavan on Death, Sex and Money
Desiree Akhavan, a Filmmaker 25 New Face whose debut feature, Appropriate Behavior opens Friday, is the guest on the latest episode of Death, Sex and Money. I will be honest — as someone who interviews a lot of directors for a living, I often won’t listen to film directors interviewed elsewhere. But I make an exception when Anna Sale is the interviewer. She is expert at gently drawing out honest revelations from her interviewees about areas that most other interviewers (including me) won’t venture into. Here’s an exchange in which Akhavan talks with Sale about the pressure she feels as […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 14, 2015 -
Liliana Greenfield-Sanders Talks the Wassaic Project’s 2014 Summer Film Festival
Now in its seventh year, the multidisciplinary Wassaic Project’s Summer Festival — whose 2014 edition opens today — offers an intimate screening experience where independent films by emerging filmmakers mix with art, music, dance and the great outdoors. It’s probably the only festival where films are projected in a Cattle Auction Ring, a fact doubly surprising given the festival’s location just two hours from New York on Metro North’s Harlem Line. The Wassaic Project is a non-profit that has as its mission the creation of “genuine and intimate context for art making and strengthening local community by increasing social and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 1, 2014 -
Women of Sundance: Appropriate Behavior
“So, is this exciting to you, or, like, totally normal by now?” director Desiree Akhavan asked her executive producer, Katie Mustard, when we three met over coffee just two weeks after their film, Appropriate Behavior, was accepted into Sundance’s NEXT section. While this is Akhavan and her London-based producer Cecilia Frugiuelle’s first time at Sundance, Mustard has had nine films there – seven features and two shorts. Mustard had been drawn to come on board Akhavan’s film because the script was “just so good” and so “fresh.” Akhavan, who stars in the film as an Iranian-American bisexual struggling to find […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 21, 2014 -
Park City Critic’s Notes #2: How Should a Family Be?
Everybody has dreams at Sundance. Some dream of distribution deals, others of the respect and recognition that may come with them. The most exuberant dreamers conjure the high seven-figure sales of yesteryear, but the ranks of such folks are dying away, the reality of the new normal having long set in. Some just want to get laid or go skiing and dream accordingly. Lucky them. Still others can’t navigate Sundance without complaining about this or that. A lot of folks are upset by the shuttles this year, claiming they aren’t as efficient as years past. More pressing, some observers have […]
by Brandon Harris on Jan 19, 2014 -
Five Questions with Appropriate Behavior Director Desiree Akhavan
Fans of Desiree Akhavan and Ingrid Jungermann’s comedic web series The Slope could not have guessed at the impressive range that Akhavan displays in her debut feature, Appropriate Behavior. As emotionally devastating as it is uproarious, Behavior stars Akhavan as Shirin, a woman dealing the aftermath of a breakup with a serious girlfriend (Rebecca Henderson), as well as her prolonged struggles to come out as bisexual to her Persian-American family. The film rings deeply personal and true, and Akhavan manages to establish herself as a real star-to-watch and the rare triple threat – a witty writer, a nimble director, and […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Jan 18, 2014 -
Appropriate Behavior and Obvious Child D.P. Chris Teague
In every young filmmaking scene, there are always one or two up-and-coming DPs you want to shoot your movie. These are the guys, or women, who have shot award-winning student films, who have loyal crews, and who know how to bring extra style, assurance and compositional smarts to first-time features. In the New York independent film community, Chris Teague has been one of those folks, and this year his talents are receiving greater recognition at Sundance, where two of his narrative feature films are debuting. In the Premiere section is the debut of Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child, a sly comedy […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 18, 2014 -
The Women of Sundance 2014
Women, this is our year. I don’t say this because I’ve got numbers to back me up (because I don’t), or because I’m generally an overly optimistic cheerleader of life (though I am). I say this because it’s our only choice. This has to be our year. As Sundance kicks off in Park City, a large handful of women are about to debut their new films and fresh voices to the world. And after interviewing almost all of them myself I can say, in my most eloquent terms, that this year’s slate of Sundance female filmmakers is absolutely badass. The […]
by Danielle Lurie on Jan 17, 2014
