3rd i co-presents at CAAMFest 2014.

Farah Goes Bang

Twenty-something Farah Mahtab is eager to shake the unwanted “virgin” moniker, but her sex life is a litany of awkward, fumbled encounters. When best friends Roopa and KJ, propose a cross-country road-trip to stump for presidential nominee John Kerry, there is a not-so-secret hope that the trip will provide Farah the sweet release she craves. The trio soon finds that wide-eyed optimism isn’t always a surefire catalyst for sex or politics — even in a swing state.

Meera Menon’s directorial debut artfully captures a generation’s mixture of hope and youthful disillusionment in the fledgling years of a post-9/11 world, and points a finger at the way national discourse shapes the identity and sexual politics of young women. An ode to female companionship a la Thelma & Louise, and with all the raunchy humor of Bridesmaids, Menon subverts the classic tropes of the road-trip film in favor of a new American feminism, complete with discussions of female grooming and sexual desire. Winner of the Nora Ephron Prize at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

This film also plays on March 14, 2014: Pacific Film Archive, 7:00 pm.