Okay

"This film is a very personal piece, bringing awareness to mental health issues using a light hearted yet purposeful approach to topics such as self-worth, addiction, suicide, healing after loss, codependence, divorce and what it means to set and hold personal boundaries. This film is seamlessly bilingual, flowing between Farsi and English. I myself have a diverse experience as an Iranian American born outside of Iran and often feel a misplaced in both the Iranian and American communities. The film maintains subtitles in both languages throughout; merging the experience of so many displaced Iranians living the north American experience. We live a bilingual mess, and so does this film. I’m so very proud of our diverse crew and cast and so thankful to have had my first experience making a film be a female driven and LGBTQ created film (I the B and Elliot the G). I am overflowing with gratitude to all of the amazing individuals who have made this short a possibility – through donations of equipment, time, and money to the countless number of people who gave guidance and mentorship. I’m so excited for people to see our little film." -- Yasmine Aker

“I wanted to extend a huge and sincere THANK YOU to every single member of our cast and crew for their brilliant energy, focus, enthusiasm, patience, generosity, passion and, of course, talent. It remains clear to me each day that not only would none of this have been possible without their great work, but that the impressive quality of what we captured would not have been achievable either. I have spent a lot of time on sets of all kinds and I have to say that this experience was by far the most inspiring I've had. It was wonderful to see everyone working so well together and gain a deeper appreciation for each component of film making. The crew and cast made my job a whole lot easier by working so hard and for that I am extremely grateful.

I remember during the shoot, where we all "jumped for joy" after a few shots and I am so eager to release Okay onto the festival circuit and make sure everyone's hard work goes acknowledged.

My first time directing was an absolute treat largely because of everyone’s wonderful contributions. It's a joy to now be able to recommend so many new talented people and work with them again in the future. What we get to do as story tellers is very special and to do that with like-minded creative people and as part of a well-functioning team, AND ENJOY IT, is truly what I believe they call - the dream. I am so thankful to everyone for making ours come true.

I am truly grateful for the new perspective this experience has given me and so thrilled that in each of our scenes we managed to capture special and unique colors from all performances that will prove so vital to the wealth of storytelling we have aimed for." -- Elliot Knight