Join us on Thursday, June 1st, 2023 at 7 PM for a screening of the film NO HARD FEELINGS (FUTUR 3) at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, followed by a discussion with filmmakers and Villa Aurora Fellows Faraz Shariat and Paulina Lorenz and LA-based producer, writer, and filmmaker Byron Jose.

In this stunning debut from director Faraz Shariat, Parvis Zareh (Benjamin Radjaipour) is a young, proud, and openly gay son of Iranian immigrants, who immerses himself in pop culture, fashion, clubbing, and casual internet sex-dates as a means of escaping the suburban boredom of his home in central Germany. As punishment for shoplifting, he is sent to perform community service in a refugee shelter where he meets and falls in love with Amon (Eidin Seyed Jalali), a young migrant who has fled Iran with his sister Banafshe (Banafshe Hourmazdi). As the three become friends, and Parvis and Amon fall in love with each other, Parvis finds himself caught between the generation of migrants before him, the third generation of newcomers, and the rest of German society. Shariat's semi-autographical story challenges homophobia and xenophobia through a vibrant visual style full of pop culture references.

"NO HARD FEELINGS is a love story, an immigrant tale and the announcement of an exciting new talent in Shariat."
- Jessica Kiang, Variety.

Paulina Lorenz, born 1994 in Hamburg, studied film, music and visual culture at the University of Hildesheim and Brown University, and holds a M.A. in migration studies from the University of Copenhagen. In 2015 she co-founded the German film collective JÜNGLINGE, which explores queer-feminist and postmigrant perspectives in film, television and popular culture. Today she develops, writes and produces feature and episodic work, such as the 2020 Teddy Award winner "No Hard Feelings."

Faraz Shariat: Raised in the hybrid cultures of Germany, Faraz Shariat, born in 1994, sees migration and the post-migrant state of mind as a potential for queer, diverse, and most of all political stories about living together in our society. Indulging in bold pop imagery, his films aim to build a space we can all connect to. They empower unapologetically: Seen through a tender and radically honest gaze, his characters always preserve their agency, no matter how catastrophic the world they live in.

Byron is a producer, writer, filmmaker, and performance artist. As an immigrant in Los Angeles, Byron engages in community-led, artistic, and liberatory projects rooted in immigrant and queer lived experiences. Byron is the Director of vuch. Language and Consulting Services, and Artistic Director and Producer of Tranza, Festival de Barrieletes en Los Ángeles, and A #NonDocumented Project. Festival de Barriletes and Tranza were presented as part of the Goethe-Intitute LA’s inaugural Neighborhood Interpretive Center in 2022, as a hyperlocal site based exhibition in MacArthur Park. Byron has previously performed at the National Queer Arts Festival, Rethinking Power & Resistance Conference at the University of Texas at Austin, and has been a guest speaker and presenter at various colleges and universities around the US.

FUTUR 3 (NO HARD FEELINGS)
Germany (2020) 92 min., German, Farsi with English Subtitles
Director: Faraz Shariat, Screenplay: Faraz Shariat & Paulina Lorenz,
Cinematography: Simon Vu, Cast: Benjamin Radjaipour, Eidin Jalali, Banafshe Hourmazdi, Jürgen Vogel, Maryam Zaree, Producers: Paulina Lorenz, Faraz Shariat, Jost Hering, Production Companies: Jünglinge Film in co-production with Jost Hering Filme, Iconoclast Germany, La Mosca Bianca Films.

AWARDS (SELECTION):
Berlinale 2020: Teddy Award Best Queer Feature Film; Teddy Readers Award, Panorama Audience Award, Molodist Kyiv IFF 2020: Special Jury Diploma, Outfest 2020: Grand Jury Prize Best Screenplay, Inside Out LGBT 2020: Best First Feature.