infinite improbability

Sorry Josiah, Atlanta isn't the only place on a whole 'nother arts ecosystem than Chattanooga

In case anybody's wondering, the above title is a reference to Josiah's comment about the art crowd in Atlanta.

The greater Sarasota Bradenton area in Florida, which is where I live, has about the same population as the greater Chattanooga area, but we have, among other things, a respected art school, and not one, but two film festivals. Tonight, I went to see one of the movies that was showing at the Cine-World Film Festival. The movie I saw was Crimson Gold(Talaye Sorgh, in Farsi). I'd never seen any Iranian movies before, so this was an interesting experience. The story is about this average guy, trying to make ends meet, and all he wants to do is marry his fiance, but he can't even afford wedding jewelry. Through following him for several days, we get a glimpse of what it's like to live in what is basically a police state--we see him deliver pizza to one apartment building, but not be allowed in or to leave, because the police are waiting for people at a party to leave the building and then arresting them. From what I've read, it's not uncommon for the religious police to come in and enforce strict religious law, assuming that young people at parties are up to no good. The film was shown at Cannes and was awarded the Prix du Un Certain Regard.