Ep. 78: What Does a Festival Award Mean to a Young Filmmaker?

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week on TIFF Long Take, Geoff sits down with independent filmmaker Desiree Akhavan. Following her acclaimed 2014 debut,</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Appropriate Behavior,</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">Akhavan’s latest is an adaptation of Emily. M Danforth’s novel</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Miseducation of Cameron Post</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. The film, which stars Chloë Grace Moretz and Sasha Lane, won the Grand Jury Prize for US Drama at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Akhavan is also an actress, appearing in projects like</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Girl’s</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">and</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Creep 2</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Akhavan talks about how she approached the adaptation process, why having a hit film at Sundance didn’t make the financing of her future projects any easier, and how she adapted her original vision of</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Miseducation of Cameron Post</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">script to make it work with a smaller budget.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She also talks about why Chloë Grace Moretz’s interest in joining the cast surprised her, why, despite glowing reviews and festival awards, it took so long to sell the film, and why she finds making TV more difficult than making movies.</span></p>