Mammoth Film Festival / Los Angeles Short Film Festival 2020 – Hejleh
While trying to enjoy her first night of marriage, Melinda, a first-generation American, feels burdened by her Iranian grandmother's impossible request that she prove her virginity.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Lauren Merage
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Throughout the world, within different cultures and religions, women are still expected to save their virginity for marriage. I am proud that Hejleh gives the audience an opportunity to see that what many might believe to be an ancient ritual, is still common practice today. Telling this story from a female’s perspective is important as women so often feel disempowered or silenced when making important decisions about their lives and bodies.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
In today’s volatile society, it is so necessary that we are exposed to and experience stories about people in other cultures who may be different from our own. I would like this film to be an example of how essential it is for a woman to retain power over her body and for the audience to question why women’s authority over their own bodies continues to be challenged. While Melinda’s issue is specific to her culture, her struggle to wrest decisions about her body from the hands of others. It is, unfortunately, a universal struggle for women across the world.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I am a first-generation American from Persian Jewish parents. My parents made a deliberate decision to raise my siblings and me with American values. While they taught us many beautiful traditions of their birthplace, they strove to not to keep us beholden to the many cultural expectations that still persist in Iran. Nonetheless, I have many cousins and friends whose parents and grandparents chose to raise their children through the lens of the Iran they came from. I’ve witnessed these young women, my contemporaries, grow up with one foot in a progressive America and the other in an ancient and traditional Iran. For many of them, the issue of their "purity" was paramount to their families. So while they were navigating the more open and sexually liberal community that is Los Angeles, their families were holding them to a different cultural standard by demanding they stay virgins in order to be considered desirable or even worthy of a husband.
Culturally, there is often a battle within families for the new generation to break tradition and create a new path while simultaneously respecting the traditions and beliefs of those who paved their way. Melinda is the perfect example of this in that she has already made decisions on how she wants to live her life but recognizes that it is important to uphold her grandmother’s wishes.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
When I set out to write Hejleh, I knew of only a few contemporary cases of families expecting to see the proof of virginity on the wedding night and wanted to explore those dynamics. As I did more research, including correspondence with women online who shared their stories and conversations with locals while traveling in Israel, I was shocked at the number of women, across multiple cultures and religions, who were put in this position.
All of these women, including Vida, the incredible Iranian actress who played the role of the grandmother, were amazingly generous in sharing their personal experiences and details of the ritual. All of these stories had greatly impacted the narrative, as well as influenced the creative direction.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Many have been surprised that this ritual is still in practice, especially in the United States. I have also received much feedback regarding the relationship between Cadmus and Melinda and how quickly the energy between two people can shift due to outside influences, stress and expectations. Audiences have shown that they identify with the couple’s frustration and that loss of connection.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
As the film continues to find its audience, I continue to be delighted and surprised by how the viewer’s lens has a major effect on the understanding of the balance Melinda is trying to find with her new husband, her family and herself.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I am grateful to reach a larger audience and to educate people on the very real and present familial and societal pressures placed on women regarding their bodies and sexuality. I hope that by exposing this ritual in a creative and entertaining manner, more conversations among friends and family will take place and inspire people to question their own relationship to tradition.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Yes! I would be thrilled to work with any and all of the above.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I want to encourage woman to see, hear and feel art that mirrors their own journey towards independence and agency, while also having empathy for those of us who want to foster a dialogue with the generations on either side of us.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I think the pressing question is, if put in Melinda’s or Cadmus’ situation, what would you do?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am currently working on a few scripts, both short and feature-length, that continue to illustrate the female perspective and unpack the societal pressures placed upon us.
Interview: March 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Hejleh
While trying to enjoy her first night of marriage, Melinda, a first-generation American, feels burdened by her Iranian grandmother's impossible request that she prove her virginity.
Length: 9:40
Director: Lauren Merage
Producer: Kyle Tekiela
Writer: Lauren Merage
About the writer, director and producer:
LAUREN MERAGE is a writer and director. Lauren went to undergraduate and graduate school for Studio Art with a concentration in photography. It was during her time in graduate school, when she wrote and directed several video pieces that she fell in love with the process and art of filmmaking. She continues to write and direct films that focus on a strong female voice and perspective.
KYLE TEKIELA is a producer and editor, known for Mudbound (2017), Cut Throat City (2020) and We Summon the Darkness (2020).
Key cast: "Melinda" Maia Nikiphoroff, "Cadmus" Tip Scarry, "Grandmother" Vida Ghahremani
Looking for: film festival directors
Instagram: @laurenmeragefilm
Hashtags used: #hejlehshortfilm #hejleh
Website: laurenmerage.com
Other: IMDb
Funders: Self-funded
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Los Angeles Short Film Festival, March 15th
New York Independent Film Festival , May 2020