Director Desiree Akhavan says her
latest film, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, struggled to
find a U.S. distributor because it deals with queer female sexuality.
Set in
1993, The Miseducation of Cameron Post
follows Cameron (played by Chloe Grace Moretz), a 12-year-old girl
who is sent to live with her conservative aunt in Montana after her
parents die in a car crash. The aunt sends Cameron to a gay
conversion camp after she is caught in an intimate moment with
another female teen.
Akhavan produced
and co-wrote the screenplay, which is based on Emily Danforth's novel
of the same name, with Cecilia Frugiuele.
Miseducation
premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the
festival's grand jury prize.
Despite
the accolade, Akhavan,who is bisexual, told PinkNews
that it took two months to find a U.S. distributor for the film, an
unusually long time for a Sundance winner.
“I
think the 'powers that be' in the film industry are spineless,” she
said. “People don't want to take the risk on a film that is
queer, that is female-centric and queer, and deals frankly with
female sexuality.”
Akhavan also
described the world of gay conversion therapy as “absurd and
depressing.”