It's been over a week since the screening at Noor and I am finally getting around to writing about it. My film screened on a Saturday afternoon and in true "Persian" fashion, 70% of the audience was 20 minutes late. I'm glad that my film was preceded by a 20 minute short.
Overall, audience reaction was by far better than any other screening. Every scene of nuanced humor, emotion, or frustration was followed by laughter and/or applause. I think the best received scene was that which Iranian bboy Hossein Battle is speaking about Iran- US relations. In the film Hossein mentions that "the US is not our big brother or cousin to tell us what do do," after which the whole audience hooted and applauded his comment. Regardless of Iranians varying opinions on Iran's current regime, the vast majority believes in an Iran that is sovereign and independent from the West in its decision making.
After the screening I was honored to hear such positive feedback from Reza Badiyi who has achieved a lot in the industry, especially as an Iranian-American. His feedback, more than anyone else at the festival meant a lot. Also, in attending the festival I was happy to meet Faramarz K Rahber who directed
Donkey in Lahore and won 3 awards at the festival including Best Director. It meant a great deal to hear the filmmaker who won Best Director saying my film was his favorite in the festival.
The next day during the award ceremony
Warring Factions was nominated for Best Documentary and Best Story/Idea. I was honored to be nominated at the festival and I sincerely thank everyone who passed out fliers, sent facebook messages, and told friends about the screening and the film. This festival has opened up a few more doors for the film and I hope to be screening again in LA since I was approached by so many people asking when the next showing was.
