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I am a Sex Addict

Wednesday December 21, 2011 7:30 pm
USA
2005.
Director: Caveh Zahedi
Cast: Caveh Zahedi, Rebecca Lord, Emily Morse, Amanda Henderson, Olia Natasha

Taking over from Woody Allen as cinema’s resident neurotic
narcissist, Caveh Zahedi turns self-confession into high art with this
self-deprecating and often cringe-worthy troll through his own sexual
obsessions. Zahedi plays “Caveh Zahedi,” a not-so-successful independent
filmmaker whose major relationships have been derailed by his
attraction to prostitutes — and, more to the point, his belief that he
should be brutally honest about it with his girlfriends. Framed as a
wedding-day confessional by Caveh, and shot during Zahedi’s real-life
(third) wedding, the film chronicles our hero’s romantic past. In Paris,
he is living with a high-strung French woman when a chance encounter
with a prostitute awakens his first illicit desires. In Los Angeles, a
long-term relationship with a stable, caring woman goes sour when his
desires return in ever stronger — and, this being California, more
car-oriented — forms. Time and again, he is unable to break free of his
sex addiction, or his desire to inform his lovers of it. “Drolly
painting a portrait of a man whose guilt complex needs to be massaged as
frequently as his penis, I Am a Sex Addict is uncomfortably
frank and frequently hilarious, as it lays bare the secret neuroses of
the male ego” (Jason Sanders, San Francisco Festival of Independent
Cinema). Colour, DV Cam. 90 mins.

Post-screening discussion with Dr. Alina Wydra,
a clinical psychologist whose varied private practice has included the
gamut of human sexuality. She has worked with many people troubled with
compulsive sexuality and its effect upon themselves and their
relationships. Currently, she is developing a program to offer sex
addiction therapy online.

Moderated by Caroline Coutts, programmer of Frames
of Mind since its inception in September 2002. Caroline is also a
filmmaker and a programmer at Knowledge Network, B.C.’s public
broadcaster.

REVIEWS

“A funny, inventive, ground-shifting hybrid of essay film, mea culpa, and pathological real-life romantic farce.”

Village Voice | full review

“Turning personal obsession into deadpan
comedy may seem like a description of Woody Allen’s work, but Zahedi
creates his own sub-genre of screen narcissism.”

Variety | full review