A project we first profiled in February of 2012, after being alerted to its Kickstarter campaign that raised over $100,000 towards completion costs, later made its World Premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival last summer, played a few more film festivals and screening series after that, and eventually played in a very limited commercial theatrical release here in the USA.
Titled The Iran Job, the feature doc centers on Kevin Sheppard, a pro American basketball player, who accepts a contract to play in Iran; and further…
What begins as a typical job-for-hire, ends in an emotional roller coaster as Kevin forms an unlikely alliance with three Iranian women against the backdrop of revolutionary upheaval in Tehran. Thanks to these women, his apartment turns into an oasis of free speech, where they discuss everything from politics to religion to gender roles. Kevin’s season in Iran culminates in something much bigger than basketball: the uprising and subsequent suppression of Iran’s reformist Green Movement – a powerful prelude to the currently unfolding Arab Spring.
I learned that the filmmaker behind the project, Till Schauder, had been working on the film since about 2008.
Jasmin saw it at the Los Angeles Film Festival last summer, and she reviewed on S&A HERE. In short, she gave it a thumbs up!
It screened theatrically at IFC Center in NYC in the fall, as part of the National Black Programming Consortium’s season 5 of AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange.
It has now been acquired by Film Movement (North American
rights), with plans to release the film nationwide on multiple platforms, in June, including cable VoD and iTunes.
The film received national press attention, including Oscar buzz.
Check out the promo trailer below for a glimpse at what to expect (full poster underneath):
