Kaveh Tehrani's coming-of-age film is an adaptation of Gulraiz Sharif's 2020 novel, depicting the increasingly complex summer vacation of 15-year-old Mahmoud. Not only does a sociable uncle from Pakistan visit, but Mahmoud must also navigate the family crisis that unfolds when his little brother Ali has a secret that turns their whole world upside down.
It doesn't take long for the film to set the tone: The protagonist, Mahmoud, almost immediately breaks the fourth wall, seamlessly taking on the role of the narrator. The film doesn't look back: it brims with techniques and devices that inject energy into the narrative and provide a framework for the themes, taking us under the skin of what turns out to be a poignant, thought-provoking family drama – all wrapped in the attractive guise of comedy.
Questions about identity and belonging in Norwegian society (for both young and older characters) within a multicultural family from Oslo become the central driving force. The adaptation of Gulraiz Sharif's book is solidly directed by debut filmmaker Kaveh Tehrani. While the film aims to maintain its entertainment value, it also carries a sharp political edge – directed equally against society's rigid class structures and conservative family traditions. The talented child actors in the lead roles carry the heart of the film on their shoulders, ensuring that few leave the theater untouched in the end.
The film will chronicle the formation of Simple Plan in Montreal in the late 1990s, their rise to global stardom with hits like "Welcome to My Life," "I'd Do Anything," and "Perfect," and their continued impact as one of the most successful punk rock bands that continues to sell out shows worldwide. The documentary will feature never-before-seen archival footage, along with new interviews with the band members and celebrated icons of the punk rock community including Mark Hoppus (Blink 182), Avril Lavigne, Dexter Holland & Noodles (The Offspring) and Fat Mike (NoFX).
Ancient Worlds is about people and places, politics and economics, art and war, trade and technology, but above all it’s the story of the painful birth and difficult growth of a radical idea first tried and tested some six thousand years ago, and which we are still struggling with today; civilisation. Civilisation has not come easily; it’s something we’ve had to fight hard to achieve, and even harder to maintain, and the greatest threats to it have come from our own talents for destruction. But when we’ve managed to get it right, the benefits have been enormous.
When we talk about the ancient world we tend to think of rare and exotic artefacts or the monumental remains of epic architecture; but these are just the empty shells that got left behind when the tide of history turned! The living creatures, the civilisations, that once inhabited these shells were rarely if ever static or stately; they were dynamic, chaotic, and always threatening to spin out of control, because civilisation is based on an improbable idea; that strangers can live and work together in dense urban settings, forging new allegiances that replace the natural ties of family, clan or tribe. It’s an idea we’re still coming to terms with today, but one of the best ways to understand the challenges that are involved is to look at how our ancestors tackled them the first time around.
From ancient Iraq to Imperial Rome, Ancient Worlds examines how our ancestors struggled with the levers of religion and politics, art and culture, war and diplomacy, technology and trade in order to keep the complex machinery of their civilisations turning over. Their insights and blind-spots, their breakthroughs and dead ends, their triumphs and disasters are the milestones on the long and winding road that leads directly from their ancient to our modern world.
