''Surviving Paradise'' is a 2000 American family adventure/drama film written and directed by Kamshad Kooshan. With three months of theatrical release in major theaters in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, it is considered to be the first English-language Iranian-American film distributed in the United States. It is one of the first to prominently feature

Shohreh Aghdashloo Shohreh Aghdashloo ( fa, شهره آغداشلو, ; née Vaziri-Tabar (); 11 May 1952) is an Iranian and American actress. Following numerous starring roles on the stage, she made her film debut in ''Chess of the Wind'' (1976). Her next two film ...

in a Hollywood production. The story concerns the struggles of a newly-arrived Iranian brother and sister in the rough as well as better-off neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

Plot

When the 10-year-old boy Sam and his younger sister Sara arrived in Los Angeles with their mother, the only thing on their mind was to go to Disneyland. But things take a wrong turn when their mother is kidnapped by three armed members of the mafia. Realizing that the police can't find their uncle, their only relative in town at the time, these two helpless children take on the vast and unforgiving streets of Los Angeles to find him themselves. On their way they encounter a colorful cast of characters and frightening situations where their humanity and endurance are tested.

Cast

as Pari *Kian Abedini as Sam *Lauren Parissa Abedini as Sara *Joe Alvarez as Mr. F *David Jay Barry as Mr. A *David Wissak as Mr. Z *Otis Freeman as Lou * Vahik Pirhamzei as Mo

Critical reception

Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called the film "well-intended but awkward".

Mick LaSalle Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broaden ...

also panned ''Surviving Paradise'' in the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

, describing the film as exemplifying the worst aspects of both American and Iranian cinema, and calling it a "low-budget mess", "poorly made", "aimless", and "overly sentimental". In the ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'', Professor of Cinematic Arts

Holly Willis Holly Willis is a Professor and Chair of the Media Arts and Practice division in the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Previously, she served as Associate Dean of Research and Founding Chair of Media Arts and Practice, as well as Director of Academi ...

called it "laughable", writing that it "proffers an astonishing array of cultural clichés in a flat-footed story".

Awards and festivals

*New York International Independent Film Festival (2001) *Sundance Screenwriter's Lab, semi-finalist 1997 *Cairo International Film Festival (2000) *International Film Festival of India (2000) *San Francisco Parent/Teacher Association

References

External links

*
Official Movie Site
*
Surviving Paradise
'{{dead link , date=September 2023 on IFVC 2000 films American drama films Films set in the 1990s Films set in Los Angeles 2001 directorial debut films Asian-American drama films Iranian-American films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films