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Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil intérieur)

Juliette Binoche stars as a woman seeking new love at midlife. Directed by Claire Denis; written by Denis and Christine Angot.

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Ava [pictured]

Mahour Jabbari stars as a schoolgirl in Tehran who rebels against her restrictive parents and culture. Written and directed by Sadaf Foroughi.

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Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story

Ashley Bell directs and cowrites this documentary portrait of elephant conservationist Lek Chailert and her mission to rescue an elderly elephant from captivity.

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Disobedience

Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams star in this romantic drama about the forbidden love between two women in an orthodox Jewish community in London. Cowritten by Rebecca Lenkiewicz. (male director)

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Duck Butter

Alia Shawkat and Laia Costa star as two women unsatisfied with modern romance who decide to get to know each other by having sex every hour for a full day.

Low-stakes rebellion comes easily to Ava, a headstrong teenager who approaches her parents with the kind of eye-rolling moodiness that most high schoolers have down pat. It seems like the kind of thing she’ll outgrow. In the meantime, she’s still a pretty good kid, a bright and vibrant student with a close circle of friends who excels at music and hopes to turn her talent with the violin into a lifelong pursuit. She has the kind of internal life her parents can’t fathom, but there’s nothing strange about that — she is a 17-year-old girl, after all — but as the expectations of her young life in a constricted Tehran become more and more difficult to navigate, Ava’s rebellion morphs into something else.

The film is loosely based on filmmaker Sadar Foroughi’s own coming-of-age in Tehran and won the Fipresci Discovery Award at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival,...

Ava Grasshopper Film Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Sadaf Foroughi Screenwriter: Sadaf Foroughi Cast: Mahour Jabbari, Bahar Nouhian, Leili Rashidi, Vahid Aghapour, Shayeste Sajadi, Sarah Alimardani, Houman Hoursan Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 4/20/18 Opens: April 27, 2018 Watching this mother-from-hell berate her daughter reminds me of verses by the British poet and Oxford University […]

The post Ava Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

"Who's this boy who waits for you everyday?" Grasshopper Films has released an official Us trailer for a rebellious drama titled Ava, from Iran, the feature debut of filmmaker Sadaf Foroughi. Deemed "exquisite" and "spellbinding," the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and stopped by the Göteborg Film Festival, Portland Film Festival, and New Directors/New Films earlier this year. Ava tells the story of Ava, played by Mahour Jabbari, a high school girl in Iran. Her life becomes more complicated after her mother catches her in an act of rebellion. The cast includes Bahar Noohian, Vahid Aghapoor, Parnian Akhtari, Sarah Alimoradi, Mona Ghiasi, and Houman Hoursan. Rebel, young Ava! This looks great. Impressive cinematography, to go with an inspiring story of fierce independence in the face of oppression. Here's the official Us trailer (+ poster) for Sadaf Foroughi's Ava, direct from Grasshopper's YouTube: Based on her own adolescent experiences,...

One of 2018’s first notable debuts, Ava concerns a young girl’s coming-of-age via rebellion — a not-unfamiliar idea that writer-director Sadaf Foroughi makes unusually crucial by placing the story in the strict environment of contemporary Tehran, transforming normal concerns into a high-stakes battle between the self and the system. After nabbing the Discovery Award and Best First Feature prize at last year’s Tiff and this year’s Canadian Screen Awards, respectively, as well as a slot in this year’s New Directors/New Films, it’s headed towards theatrical release.

Thus, naturally, we have a trailer. Ava is perhaps too complex for a quick breakdown, but much — from Foroughi’s rigid, perspective-obsessed formal choices to the roiling narrative tensions to Mahour Jabbari’s breakout performance — comes through herein. Either way, keep your eye out; as we said in our review, “Sadaf Foroughi’s fulminating debut feature, Ava, may strike...

Sadaf Foroughi’s fulminating debut feature, Ava, may strike a few chords among Persepolis enthusiasts. A role-model schoolgirl turned rebel, its eponymous teenage girl is a rollicking blend between Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s black-and-white punk teen and The 400 Blows‘ Antoine Doinel – a heroine fighting to reassert her freedom in the face of an ultra-conservative environment. Tehran-born, Montreal-based writer-director Foroughi draws from her childhood memories to conjure up a gripping coming-of-age story where the claustrophobic relationship between an overprotective mother and her teenage daughter acts as a synecdoche to expose a patriarchal society eager to chastise whatever falls outside its rigidly policed norms.

Premiered at Tiff in September 2017, where it nabbed the Discovery Award, Ava follows its titular 17-year-old (Mahour Jabbari), an impeccable student and promising violinist from an upper-middle-class Tehran family, whose life starts crumbling after her mistrustful mother (Bahar Nouhian) subjects her to a revoltingly humiliating...

As the film “Ava” is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, its two lead Iranian actresses won’t be in attendance. According to “Ava”‘s director Sadaf Foroughi, both 17-year-old Mahour Jabbari’s and 18-year-old Shayesteh Sajadi’s travel visas have been denied by the Canadian Government. Related: Tiff CEO Piers Handling Announces 2018 Festival […]...

Tomorrow’s world premiere of “Ava” at the Toronto International Film Festival will be lacking two key players. Iranian actresses Mahour Jabbari and Shayesteh Sajadi have both been denied travel visas by the Canadian government, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sadaf Foroughi, who directed the coming-of-age drama, told THR that “I felt disappointed because I wish I could celebrate our premiere accompanied by my actresses.”

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“You have not satisfied me that you would leave Canada at the end of your stay as a temporary resident. In reaching this decision, I considered several factors, including travel history, family ties in Canada and in country of residence, purpose of visit, current employment situation,” reads the letter received by 18-year-old Sajadi. “I am not satisfied that you have sufficient funds, including income or assets, to carry out your stated...

Two Iranian actresses won't be hitting the red carpet as their drama Ava makes its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Friday. The Canadian government has denied travel visas to 17-year-old Mahour Jabbari and 18-year-old Shayesteh Sajadi, according to the film's director, Sadaf Foroughi.

"I felt disappointed because I wish I could celebrate our premiere accompanied by my actresses," Foroughi tells The Hollywood Reporter. Toronto fest organizers going to bat for the Iranian actresses failed to sway Canadian embassy officials.

"Tiff provided visa support letters for Mahour Jabbari and Shayesteh Sadat Sajjadi. We would love to have them celebrate...