Toronto Film Festival Dailies

 NOTHING IS PRIVATE

Friday, September 14------One of the most controversial films of the Festival, Alan Ball's feature directorial debut, NOTHING IS PRIVATE has been acquired for $1.25 million by Warner Independent and Netflix offshoot Red Envelope. This is the first directorial effort of Alan Ball, the Oscar-winning writer of AMERICAN BEAUTY and the creator of the HBO series SIX FEET UNDER.

The film has been considered a hot potato due to its unflinching portrayal of the often painful sexual awakening of a young half-Lebanese girl. The film, also written by Ball, is based on the novel Towelhead by Alicia Erian. Jasira (Summer Bishil) is a thirteen-year-old Arab-American girl, who ditches her egomaniacal mother (Maria Bello) and her predatory boyfriend, to move in with her strict, condescending Lebanese father in the heart of suburban Texas.

What follows is her troubling sexual awakening at the hands of two men....a racist neighbor (Aaron Eckhart) and an impossibly horny African-American teenager (Eugene Jones). The always dependable Toni Collette co-stars as a nosy, pregnant neighbor who enters the picture. The film is set against the backdrop of America's first invasion of Iraq during the Gulf War. It provides a rich context to explore the racial dynamics in America as a kind of premonition to the post-911 hysteria that has been targeted against Arab-Americans.

At the film's press conference, Ball agreed that "the  movie that is going to push so many buttons for so many people.  I know [the film] is very divisive. Most distributors are so afraid of taking risks and taking chances.'' Well, Warner Independent apparently has taken the bait and will position the film for awards season with a planned limited release before the end of the year.

Sandy Mandelberger, Toronto FF Dailies Editor