EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton has boarded Within the Backyard of Tulips, an Oscar-qualified live-action brief written by and starring Ava Lalezarzadeh, as government producer.
The venture reunites Cretton with director Julia Elihu, with whom he initially linked almost a decade in the past as one of many founders of the movie program at her highschool, Canyon Crest Academy in San Diego. His work has been a big inspiration for Elihu all through her filmmaking journey
Successful Lalezarzadeh HollyShorts Movie Competition’s Script Compass Screenwriting Award, Within the Backyard of Tulips marks her screenwriting debut. The drama is about on an attractive spring day in 1988 towards the looming backdrop of the Iran-Iraq Conflict, following 16-year-old Caroline as she takes her final automobile journey along with her father to the Iranian countryside. Pic is predicated on the journey of Lalezarzadeh’s mom, who herself fled from struggle and spiritual persecution. It’s a narrative that resonated deeply for Elihu, whose household shares the identical heritage, in addition to producer Aaron Lemle, who grew up round tales of spiritual persecution.
Within the Backyard of Tulips additionally received Greatest Dwell Motion Quick Movie on the St. Louis Movie Competition and now seems to be to interrupt into the Oscars‘ shortlist for the class, which shall be introduced on Tuesday, December 17. In a press release to Deadline on the venture, Cretton stated, “In The Backyard of Tulips is a poignant, sincere portrayal of an immigrant expertise that couldn’t be extra related proper now. Directed with a delicate hand and a mind for efficiency, each second is charged with feelings effervescent slightly below the floor. I’m so excited for the world to see this lovely movie.”
After breaking out with the indie Quick Time period 12, which received Grand Jury and Viewers Awards at SXSW, Cretton has gone on to a profession directing studio photos like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Simply Mercy, and The Glass Fortress, additionally engaged on sequence like American Born Chinese language. Most lately wrapping on Surprise Man, the Marvel miniseries he co-created for Disney+, he’s presently hooked up to high-profile tasks together with a brand new Spider-Man movie and a Naruto adaptation for Lionsgate.
Elihu is an Iranian-American writer-director who blends narrative and documentary filmmaking to create tales that break conventional boundaries. Her brief Yasamin, based mostly on her mom’s story of immigration, was a Grand Jury Prize Nominee at AFI Fest, whereas her brief Winter of ’79 obtained a particular recognition on the Quick Shorts Movie Competition & Asia. In 2022, she affiliate produced the documentary brief Lengthy Line of Women, which world premiered on the Sundance, received the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW, and was acquired by New York Instances Op-Docs.
As an actor, Lalezarzadeh makes her sequence common debut in Apple’s latest restricted sequence Earlier than reverse Billy Crystal. In 2025, she’s going to debut on Broadway within the Pulitzer Prize-winning English from Sanaz Toossi. At present growing a feature-length model of Within the Backyard of Tulips, her different appearing credit embody The Morning Present, New Amsterdam, and Large Mouth.
Cretton is represented by WME and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.