91 mins |
Rated
TBC
Directed by Babak Jalali
Starring Gregg Turkington, Jeremy Allen White, Anaita Wali Zada, Hilda Schmelling, Siddique Ahmed, Taban Ibraz, Avis See-tho, Timur Nusratty, Eddie Tang
Afghan refugee Donya lives in Fremont but works at a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Seeking connection, she decides to send a message out to the world through a cookie in this offbeat vision of the universal longing for home.
"With this film I want to look beyond the idea that there are wild differences between humans. In a world where so much is made
of imagining differences and exaggerating otherness, it’s important to look at universal similarities. An immigrant and a non-immigrant share many of the same hopes, dreams and ambitions. The main character in this film, Donya, a feisty young woman and a former translator for the U.S. military, feels she is where she is due to her own life choices. But this does not mean she does not suffer or feel displaced. She is determined to change things. She wants to be busy. She wants to be at ease. She wants to fall in love. And she wants acceptance. Like most other people.
Even though this film looks at the plight of an Afghan translator and her new life in America, the style of the film is not one that is rooted in social realism. Observations of the absurdities of cultural adjustment and feelings of displacement can also be presented through the lens of humor. For although the subjects
that are dealt with here can be dark at times, there is humor in darkness too. This element of lightness has always been important to me as a filmmaker. Showing humor in situations that are
bleak doesn’t underplay the seriousness or depth of a story but rather, it can add layers to the sense of realism. As the saying goes: ‘He who cries only has one pain. But he who laughs has a thousand and one pains...’"
-A Note from FREMONT director Babak Jalali
Read more...
Afghan refugee Donya lives in Fremont but works at a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Seeking connection, she decides to send a message out to the world through a cookie in this offbeat vision of the universal longing for home.
"With this film I want to look beyond the idea that there are wild differences between humans. In a world where so much is made
of imagining differences and exaggerating otherness, it’s important to look at universal similarities. An immigrant and a non-immigrant share many of the same hopes, dreams and ambitions. The main character in this film, Donya, a feisty young woman and a former translator for the U.S. military, feels she is where she is due to her own life choices. But this does not mean she does not suffer or feel displaced. She is determined to change things. She wants to be busy. She wants to be at ease. She wants to fall in love. And she wants acceptance. Like most other people.
Even though this film looks at the plight of an Afghan translator and her new life in America, the style of the film is not one that is rooted in social realism. Observations of the absurdities of cultural adjustment and feelings of displacement can also be presented through the lens of humor. For although the subjects
that are dealt with here can be dark at times, there is humor in darkness too. This element of lightness has always been important to me as a filmmaker. Showing humor in situations that are
bleak doesn’t underplay the seriousness or depth of a story but rather, it can add layers to the sense of realism. As the saying goes: ‘He who cries only has one pain. But he who laughs has a thousand and one pains...’"
-A Note from FREMONT director Babak Jalali
