A lot has happened in the past couple weeks since last I posted. First, we've been busy applying for a non-fiscal sponsorship through the International Documentary Association and other grants that had deadlines. These things take a lot of time to prepare. Thus far, we've done over 11 drafts on our proposal material. Now, we're being asked to update our budget. Hopefully, this'll be done before the end of the week. For those of you interested in applying for grants, here's a

Now, there's no shooting until May 26th. But I've got everything else to organize with becoming a non-profit and then applying for grants before May 15th. It'll be a marathon race. On top of that, music for the film is already coming through. Thomas Bellier is already composing tracks for the film. He's trying to get everything mostly done before he leaves back for Paris on June 15th. That means I've got to come up with money for him to do the recordings, getting studio time,

I didn't know what was going to happen at the salon. I had been there a month ago and gotten a haircut from Samantha. She was very kind and mature. "I don't care about money," she told me. "I just want to do something I love. That's why I chose cutting hair. I like connecting with people." "What helped you realize that?" I asked. "Oh, I don't know," she said. "My parents and my church." I wanted to know more. I asked her if we could film us getting a haircut and then talk abo

I'm overwhelmed with all the support we've been getting. That's getting me emotional too. My Uncle Farahmand is already talking about me doing some TV spots for Iranian programs in LA next month. "You need a sidekick," he said. "Someone who can translate for you." "What about Meina?" I said. "She's good for French," he laughed. I thought that would look cool. To have two cousins who are in the film side-by-side. That's why I wanted to have us doing the road trip across Americ

I'm still really emotional. I'm not sure what's going on. I don't know if it's looking at the trauma or fatigue at this point. The slightest thing can start a waterworks show. I figure I'll just let my body go through what it's going through. That's what I was thinking as we started the drive up from Delaware to Philadelphia. My dad and I started chatting right away about haan. The Korean word for suffering. I talked about the American blues being similar and was curious if h