Appropriate Behavior is becoming the film that all festivals want to show. Full of life, deep, dynamic and immensely entertaining, this is the first film from Desiree Akhavan, who wrote the screenplay herself, as well as playing the lead role and directing. Steering clear of over-dramatisation, the intimate, personal story examines the confusion of a Persian girl who feels completely integrated into modern Brooklyn. A girl neither too Persian nor too gay, too hetero or too anything; a girl who just wants to be free and find herself.

This is a veritable jewel in the crown of American indie cinema in which, on this occasion, the focus is on the female emotions and the complex processes of falling in love, breaking up, getting over the heartbreak and finding reconciliation. Appropriate Behavior is undoubtedly one of the freshest, most authentic films on the festival programme this year.