In-person: Q&A with filmmaker Desiree Akhavan, Maria San Filippo, associate professor, Emerson College.

Admission is free. No advance reservations. Free tickets must be obtained on a first come, first served basis at the box office, where seating will be assigned.

Appropriate Behavior

U.S., 2014

In her debut feature, writer-director Desiree Akhavan stars as Shirin, a bisexual, 20-something, Iranian American woman navigating the social mores and romantic possibilities of Park Slope, Brooklyn … poorly. Caught up in the throes of a break-up, Shirin makes an effort to meet the expectations of her ex-girlfriend, her parents, and herself but unable or unwilling to fit any particular mold, she ends up demolishing them all. Marshaling the irreverent, deadpan wit of her hit LGBTQ web series, The Slope, co-created with Ingrid Jungermann, Akhavan does the same for the romantic comedy, subverting expectations while expanding the vision of queer representation onscreen. We’re pleased to present this screening of Appropriate Behavior with Akhavan in conversation with scholar Maria San Filippo, author of The B Word: Bisexuality in Contemporary Film and Television and the new Queer Film Classics volume on Appropriate Behavior from McGill-Queen’s University Press.

DCP, color, 86 min. Director: Desiree Akhavan. Screenwriter: Desiree Akhavan. With: Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson, Halley Feiffer.

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