" Q: It was a very gritty, New York film but it could have been filmed anywhere. Although we usually think of kids who fall between the cracks living in a 3rd world environment. Why New York?
A: Because the location really is in New York. Also to help erase ideas of entitlement and the brainwashing of colonialism that spur on false classifications such as “3rd world.” Categories like 3rd and 1st world, or East and West, or the “Orient” were shrewdly created in order for one to exploit the other, economically, mentally, and imaginatively."
Read the rest of the interview here.
And an intro to Chop Shop (i believe this came from the AFI Fest):
"Chop Shop
USA, 2007, 84 min, 35 MM
DIR: Ramin Bahrani
SCR: Ramin Bahrani, Bahareh Azimi
PROD: Jeb Brody, Marc Turtletaub, Lisa Muskat
DP: Michael Simmonds
ED: Ramin Bahrani
PROD DES: Richard Wright
EXEC PROD: Peter Saraf
MUS: M. Lo
CAST: Alejandro Polanco, Isamar Gonzales, Rob Sowulski, Carlos Zapata, Ahmad Razvi
Combining the powers of observance and understatement, director Ramin Bahrani is able to render an emotional tale of two siblings who struggle to stay together and get their own little piece of the American dream.
Small in stature but huge in ambition, 12-year-old Dominican orphan Alejandro works every angle in his struggle to support himself and his older sister. He lives and works in an auto-body repair shop in a sprawling junkyard on the outskirts of Queens, New York. CHOP SHOP is a portrait of a young boy navigating his way through a chaotic adult world. Set in a stunning and unique location, it is subtle and simple, but tells a profound story about the people who live, work, and dream there.
With its terrific performances from both Alejandro Polanco (a first-time actor found in a public school in Manhattan) and Isamar Gonzales, CHOP SHOP is a thoughtful, evocative portrayal of family, longing and the chaotic nature of life. Bahrani firmly establishes himself as a bright light in cinema and a passionately inventive filmmaker."
Find out more about Chop Shop & Bahrani at this Noruz Films website.
- Sujewa
