Sparta

Making films that project

the playfulness and passions of Life

The story focuses on two families: the Ealings, a local family fallen on hard times and trying desperately to hold onto what’s left of their respectability; and Maryam and Amy Badr, a mother and daughter freshly arrived in town with other victims’ families. Unprepared for its visitors, the town places the Badrs with the Ealings.

As the mystery of Amy’s father deepens, the charismatic, cynical Walt and the awkwardly rebellious Arthur vie for Amy’s trust. Walt ultimately has his own dark secrets, which explode in an act of depravity. But Arthur finds a new source of strength in Amy’s unexpected friendship. Together, they set out to learn the truth about her father. The truth they discover is incomplete, but helps them shed some lies about themselves along the way.

“Sparta” is a modest film, but one likely to have enormous resonance for Americans still reckoning with the September 11th and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is not a typical Hollywood portrait of suburbia or small town life. Its irreverent spirit will connect with teenagers and young adults, while more mature viewers will find a liberating breadth and moral complexity in its portrait of America’s heartland. The film also promises to have strong international appeal for audiences seeking to make sense of what is happening in the U.S. today. “Sparta” captures American life in all its splendid untidiness, conflict and yearning for redemption.

A passenger jet has just crashed in a quiet, insular town in middle America. As Sparta is besieged with reporters, politicians and the victims’ families, an unlikely relationship develops between two brothers and the daughter of one of the passengers – a Lebanese-American girl from New York whose father was (suspiciously) on the plane. The film explores some of the town’s darker edges, rich in secrets and unspoken hurt, while using moments of humor and irreverence to chip away at the “official mourning” that consumes the town. In a larger sense, it asks what happens when the outside world literally falls out of the sky, forcing its reality onto a mistrustful America.

Sparta