The (Non-) Homophobic Lesbian Auteurs of Park Slope
In August 2011, Ingrid Jungermann and Desiree Akhavan debuted a webseries called “The Slope,” about “superficial, homophobic lesbians” living west of the Park. It’s now in its second season, and still toeing that fine line between satire and celebration. “I fell hard for Brooklyn the moment I moved here,” Akhavan, who came here after graduating from Smith five years ago, tells us.
“The first year was one revelation after another. ‘Finally! A place for me, where children play with handcrafted wooden educational toys, everyone under 30 has a video art piece in the works, and I have access to all the gourmet pickles I could ever stuff into my greedy little mouth!’ I kept leaving the house in the morning with a sense of originality, and by noon I’d run into three other bisexual Iranian-American filmmakers, only their Etsy-bought vegan backpacks were cuter than mine. I love my life in Brooklyn, but I am very aware that I’m a Coop-shopping, bike-riding, CSA-loving cliche.”
Akhavan is currently at work adapting the series into a feature film, which she says will have a budget under $10 million (but not how much under). “The movie is coming together beautifully,” she tells us. “I’m not worried about shooting on a low budget because I find that when restrictions are applied to a project, it tends to streamline many aspects of the shoot. The film is a small, intimate look at life and love in Brooklyn, and that kind of movie doesn’t require a large budget.”
TheSlopeShow.com