Full Movie Here: Banished

Banished started as a very casual idea. Me and my friend Payam Banifazl were driving one day in the valley and we were talking about movies. I was going to film school with my friend Nariman Norouz at the time and Payam had always been interested in acting. Well Payam had the idea of hey lets make a little short film with all of our friends for fun. We thought it could be done because I had video camera and Payam had a gun that looked real. So our plan was to make a 15 min short film that we would show to our friends for practice and for fun. As we were listening to various music we landed on a song Hell by the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Payam started telling me a scene he always had planned to the song. That inspired me to take that idea and expand it. Because it involved two things that intrigued me violence and music.
Well the film kept evolving from shooting from video to film. Using fake guns to real guns. Getting blanks and squibs and so on. Well, six months later we has a 35 min short film. I was very pleased with the film and it was screened at the big apple film festival. I never thought it would turned out the way it did when I was in the car with Payam that one day we came up with the idea. But the evolution of the film did not stop there.
Well after that film I went on making Persian commercials and music videos. Then I made another short film called Delusive Dreams that Nariman Norouz (Charlie Vespa) wrote the screenplay. Which was more professional and sharpened my skills as a filmmaker. Then I saw the film of El Mariachi that Robert Rodriguez made it for $7,000. When I listened to the commentary of the film. I realized that he made the film very similar to the way I made Banished. Dirt cheap, do everything yourself and learn as you go along. So it was really after that moment where I said I want to expand Banished into a feature. Mathematically it made sense. The movie was shot on film and the length was 35 min. 35 + 35 = 70 which qualifies as a feature film. So I thought I just have to double the film.So my next step was to go to the actors (my friends) and tell them this crazy idea. At first they thought it was a joke. But after begging and begging them they finally and reluctantly got back into character. And I am very very grateful for that. So then the next step was to get back into the writing possess with Payam. We just had to flesh out the character and the story a little more. We started shooting a couple months later and we started out a little rusty but we got back in the groove.
The next step of the evolution process was meeting my producer. Well with myspace and youtube it opens up a whole new avenue of promoting. One day I get a random email from him saying that he is a producer and he is hosting an event and would like to meet. So I ran at this opportunity. Payam and I went to this event hoping for the best. After searching for a while we finally found him. We sat and talked for a while and I showed him my teaser for Banished on my ipod. He was very nice and he gave us some advise and then we left. Then the next day I received a call from He saying he wants to be involved with the project. I was extremely excited because I thought now we had legitimacy.One of the advise that he gave us was we should think of getting a name for to attach to the film as a cameo. We still had 4 days of shooting left so that was still possible. One of the roles that was open was an Italian Mob Boss. The actor that he suggested was Robert Costanzo. I thought that he was absolutely perfect for the role. When we met Costanzo, one morning at Jerry’s Deli, I was even more convinced and delivered extremely well.
So this project went from a simple idea of “hey lets make a little short film with all of our friends” to a feature film with Robert Costanzo. I have to pinch myself sometimes. From where it started to what it became I am very proud of this film. People can say what they want about the film but hopefully this will be the stepping stone for bigger and better films. There will never be another first film and I am glad Banished is mine.