House of Sand and Fog

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 2003, 126 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

After surviving hell in the form of a cure for alcoholism and the break-up of her marriage, Kathy Lazar takes refuge in a small bungalow on the northern California coast. She lives alone, working as a cleaner, and tries to pull herself out of depression. Colonel Behrani is an Iranian who, after the rise of the new regime, had to leave his highly-placed military post and quickly emigrate with his wife Nadi and their children. In the USA their rapidly disappearing family finances can provide Nadi and their adolescent son Esmail with a mere reflection of their former lifestyle. To supplement their income Behrani accepts a degrading job as a roadway worker. But when Kathy´s house goes up for auction, thanks to bureaucratic zeal and her own tardiness, the Colonel lunges at the chance of buying it cheap. The young woman, however, does not intend to surrender her home. In this psychological story, the confrontation of two dreams changes into a war in which no one will triumph.

About the director

Vadim Perelman (b. 1963, Kiev) emigrated with his mother at the age of fourteen. Before settling in Canada, they experienced hard times in Vienna and Rome. He went on to study film at Ryerson University in Toronto. The immigrant´s difficult assimilation and oppressive feelings of isolation, even in a relatively friendly democratic society, became the theme of his directorial debut - an adaptation of American writer Andre Dubus III´s novel House of Sand and Fog (a 1999 finalist for the prestigious National Book Award). Perelman won the Best Debut Award from the National Board of Review for a film he also co-wrote and coproduced. The movie was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, and Ben Kingsley, Shohreh Aghdashloo and James Horner were nominated for Oscars.