Blog | mysite

Filming at SkyArt in Chicago

Filming at SkyArt in Chicago

Last week, I visited SkyArt in Chicago to film one of the final sequences in the film. After speaking to various adults about the issues of racism, I decided it would be good to get perspectives from the future of America. So, I spent three days with elementary school students, discussing what makes a story and how they could tell their experiences in comics and film. The children were quick to discuss Trump, immigration, climate change and what they would say to the barber w

We're back at it again!

We're back at it again!

Today's filming didn't go exactly as planned. We drove out to Palmdale, attached the camera to the hood of the car, and it was far from perfect. I'd have changed it if we had a chance, but some rancher creeped us out by lurking near the road, so we just bailed. I told Meina we could try again in another location next Tuesday. "Tuesday's with Pirooz," I said in a text. "lol," her text said. I figure we can film these every Tuesday for the next month, until we get something hal

Day 22: Sometimes I Dream in Farsi

Day 22: Sometimes I Dream in Farsi

I finished a rough edit of Sometimes I Dream in Farsi this morning. It has the film's basic structure and components. (That's robot speak for "it's looking very good!") I still have to tighten things and maybe swap certain talking heads and insert some pics of me as a toddler, but it's working to a certain extent, with a lot of what we shot left on the editing room floor. I suppose that's how editing works. You find a focus and a clear story, and anything that's outside that

Day 21: Sometimes I Dream in Farsi

Day 21: Sometimes I Dream in Farsi

I didn't think I'd be emotional again. Aaron even pulled me aside before we started and wondered what could potentially be achieved by shooting in yet another barbershop. "What do we hope to achieve?" he asked. This was a good question. I knew that having Ray Haratian and Kevin Ramsey doing interviews was important, and I said so, but I also heard Aaron's concerns. We were about to go into an uncontrolled environment, with potential sound issues -- while the establishment was

Day 20: Sometimes I Dream in Farsi

Day 20: Sometimes I Dream in Farsi

Today we shot the final images for the dream sequences. A friend brought her two children to represent myself at the age the incident happened. The idea is that we'd see these images in slow motion alongside other beauty shots, such as the American landscape, etc., to represent the "dream portions" of the film and help us transition from one section of the film to the next. Directing children is a bit of an art form in and of itself, because you have to be the most free with

1

2 3 4