Anaita Wali Zada as Donya in Fremont. Babak Jalali: 'I grew up around a lot of Afghan women and the ones I met were fiercely independent, very mighty and very powerful' Photo: Music Box Films Fremont, Babak Jalali’s latest film, written with Carolina Cavalli, comes equipped with the same sort of loose narrative framework and gentle absurdity that has served Jim Jarmusch well down the years. He focuses on the life of Donya. Unable to sleep, she is also seeing a shrink (Gregg Turkington) and, after a sudden promotion, she decides to send a message out into the world that leads to unexpected consequences and a cameo from Jeremy Allen White. The film, which closed Edinburgh International Film Festival, and we caught up with Jalali ahead of the screening to talk about his quirky, deadpan character study.
This is the first time you and Carolina Cavalli have...
This is the first time you and Carolina Cavalli have...
- 9/13/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) lives in Fremont in San Francisco’s Bay area, although she’s originally from Afghanistan, where she worked as a translator for the US Army before the Taliban returned to power. Now she works in a fortune cookie-makers alongside her co-worker Joanna (Hilda Schmelling), eating alone in a restaurant where the owner is hooked on soap operas and returning back to her flat where she fails to sleep at night. She’s not alone as it turns out and a neighbour gives her his psychiatry appointments, where she has conversations with Dr Anthony (Gregg Turkington) that often take a quiet turn for the absurd.
The film is redolent of Jim Jarmusch, not just the handsome black and white lensing from Laura Valladao but its deadpan, vignette nature, both of which recall, in particular, Coffee And Cigarettes. That’s not to say that there isn’t a narrative here,...
The film is redolent of Jim Jarmusch, not just the handsome black and white lensing from Laura Valladao but its deadpan, vignette nature, both of which recall, in particular, Coffee And Cigarettes. That’s not to say that there isn’t a narrative here,...
- 9/12/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Fremont,” a beautiful and poignant story of an Afghanistan immigrant, stuck between two cultures in America … co-written and directed by Babak Jalali. In select theaters on September 8th, see local listings.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) is an ex-translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, who just managed to get out of the war-torn country on a special visa and has found work in Fremont, California, with a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Around the same time she is promoted to write the fortunes for the cookies, she begins to see a therapist (Gregg Turkington) who connects in a profound way to her case, and she begins to open up to new possibilities, including an encounter with a lonely auto mechanic on September 8th. See local listings for other locations. Featuring Anaita Wali Zada, Gregg Tarkington, Hilda Schmelling,...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) is an ex-translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, who just managed to get out of the war-torn country on a special visa and has found work in Fremont, California, with a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Around the same time she is promoted to write the fortunes for the cookies, she begins to see a therapist (Gregg Turkington) who connects in a profound way to her case, and she begins to open up to new possibilities, including an encounter with a lonely auto mechanic on September 8th. See local listings for other locations. Featuring Anaita Wali Zada, Gregg Tarkington, Hilda Schmelling,...
- 9/8/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A long time ago, in what might as well have been a galaxy far, far away, Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) was a translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Now, this young woman lives in the Bay Area town of Fremont, a stone’s throw from Silicon Valley and a dozen or so Bart stops from San Francisco. Every day, she commutes from an apartment complex populated by Afghan immigrants into the City by the Bay, where she works in a fortune-cookie factory in Chinatown. Every evening, she returns home...
- 9/1/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
"It's okay to feel lonely sometimes..." Music Box Films has revealed an official trailer for an indie film titled Fremont, a black & white dry comedy from writer / director Babak Jalali, co-written by Carolina Cavalli (who also directed this year's Amanda). This first premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and has stopped by lots of other festivals including SXSW, Karlovy Vary, IFFBoston, Sun Valley, Seattle, and more. Donya, a lonely Afghan immigrant in the US who works at a fortune cookie factory, is promoted to writing the fortunes inside each cookie. Seeking connection, she decides to send a message out to the world through a cookie, unsure where it will lead. "Tenderly sculpted and lyrically shot in black-and-white, Babak Jalali's Fremont is a wry, deadpan vision of the universal longing for home." Anaita Wali Zada stars as Donya, and the cast features Jeremy Allen White, Gregg Turkington, Hilda Schmelling, and Avis See-tho.
- 8/2/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of the best showcases of international cinema every year, the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look festival is now in its 12th edition and we’re pleased to exclusively unveil the lineup. Taking place from March 15-19 at the hallowed Queens theater, the selection features 38 works, including 19 features representing more than 22 countries.
Highlights include some of our favorites on the festival circuit in the past year: at long last, the New York premiere of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Cannes prize-winner Tori and Lokita, along with other victors Rodeo and The Eight Mountains; recent Sundance premieres Babak Jalali’s Fremont, Mary Helena Clark & Mike Gibisser’s A Common Sequence, and C.J. “Fiery” Obasi’s Mami Wata; Lucrecia Martel’s new short Maid; Gastón Solnicki’s A Little Love Package; Koji Fukada’s Love Life; and much more.
MoMI Curator of Film Eric Hynes said, “The guiding...
Highlights include some of our favorites on the festival circuit in the past year: at long last, the New York premiere of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Cannes prize-winner Tori and Lokita, along with other victors Rodeo and The Eight Mountains; recent Sundance premieres Babak Jalali’s Fremont, Mary Helena Clark & Mike Gibisser’s A Common Sequence, and C.J. “Fiery” Obasi’s Mami Wata; Lucrecia Martel’s new short Maid; Gastón Solnicki’s A Little Love Package; Koji Fukada’s Love Life; and much more.
MoMI Curator of Film Eric Hynes said, “The guiding...
- 2/10/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
As someone who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, Babak Jalali’s sophomore feature “Fremont” piqued my interest. It joins a few other titles at Sundance which explore the intricacies of this ethnically-complex area, like the Sf-based 1970s bohemian memoir “Fairyland” and the absolute psychosis of Asian American dating in Berkeley-centric “Shortcomings.” Unlike the previous two titles, however, “Fremont” feels noticeably distant. Jajali’s unfamiliarity with the area — and his subject — is palpable. As a result, “Fremont” delivers more lip service than it does actual story, feeling more like a checked box than it does a matter of consequence.
“Fremont” was nominated for Sundance Film Festival’s Next section.
At first glance, the premise of “Fremont” is quirky. The black-and-white narrative feature revolves around Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), a Fremont-based Afghan refugee who works at a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. At first, she and...
“Fremont” was nominated for Sundance Film Festival’s Next section.
At first glance, the premise of “Fremont” is quirky. The black-and-white narrative feature revolves around Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), a Fremont-based Afghan refugee who works at a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. At first, she and...
- 1/30/2023
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Music Box Films releases the film in select theaters on Friday, August 25.
A former translator for American troops in Kabul — a role that eventually allowed her to leave her birth country but left her with unresolved feelings of guilt and shame — 20something Donya now lives by herself in a Fremont, California, apartment complex full of other Afghan immigrants. Whatever sense of community Donya gets from the other people in the building doesn’t seem to alleviate her quiet isolation, even if neighbors like Suleyman (Timur Nusratty) and Salim (Siddique Ahmed) are readily available for wistful conversation at all hours of the night.
When the sun comes up, Donya commutes to her job at a Chinese-owned fortune cookie factory, where she’s responsible for printing out the cryptic sayings that other people will eventually translate for themselves. That...
A former translator for American troops in Kabul — a role that eventually allowed her to leave her birth country but left her with unresolved feelings of guilt and shame — 20something Donya now lives by herself in a Fremont, California, apartment complex full of other Afghan immigrants. Whatever sense of community Donya gets from the other people in the building doesn’t seem to alleviate her quiet isolation, even if neighbors like Suleyman (Timur Nusratty) and Salim (Siddique Ahmed) are readily available for wistful conversation at all hours of the night.
When the sun comes up, Donya commutes to her job at a Chinese-owned fortune cookie factory, where she’s responsible for printing out the cryptic sayings that other people will eventually translate for themselves. That...
- 1/20/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
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