Selected for competition for the 65th Venice Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival

“… a timely, disturbing parable on the consequences of greed.” — Stephen Holden, New York Times


“a raw tragedy in the tradition… of Stroheim’s Greed.” — Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times


“Naderi reveals the consuming obsessiveness of addiction, as Eddie pursues the American dream of prospecting for gold in his own backyard. If you have ever shared that dream, that disease, Vegas could bore into your gut.” — Richard Corliss, Time


“Naderi’s stated goal, to wed his more experimental recent work to a strong narrative throughline, has been realized with a vengeance…. highly poetic… [the] characters’ driving obsessions traverse cinematic synapses on America’s psychological landscape.” — Ronnie Scheib, Variety


“The experimental does not preclude great formal achievement. The proof is Amir Naderi’s Vegas…” — Eugenio Renzi, Cahiers du Cinema


“Acclaimed director Amir Naderi applies his inimitable cinematic style to Vegas, a timely and complex fable about our current economic crisis. ” — Jason Guerrasio, Filmmaker Magazine


“A clever metaphor for and trenchant comment on our compulsive, irrational real-estate dreams.”– Steven Zeitchik, Hollywood Reporter, Risky Business Blog


“breakout star” — Eric Kohn, The Wrap


“a mesmerizing tale of greed gone bad” — Mickey Rapkin, GQ


“powerful, fablelike drama” — Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine


“immensely more satisfying on both a visual and a philosophical level” — Andrew O’Hehir, Salon


“perfect for the age of the subprime mortgage crisis” — Robert Levin, Am NY


“a powerful story” — Katey Rich, Cinema Blend

Synopsis: Eddie Parker, his wife Tracy and their 12-year-old son Mitch lead blue-collar lives on the outskirts of America’s pleasure capital, Las Vegas. A compulsive gambler, Eddie has never won big. Tending her small garden in the desert, Tracy tries to keep the fragile family life together. Then an elusive stranger shows up claiming there’s something special about their home and he makes an offer that quickly turns into the family’s obsession. The only question is how deep are they willing to go?

AMIR NADERI started his international career in Iran in the 1970s with award-winning films such as Waiting and Requiem. In the 80s, he helped focus international attention on Iranian cinema with acclaimed works such as The Runner and Water, Wind, Dust. Based in New York City since the late ‘80s, Naderi has since made his New York Trilogy: Manhattan by Numbers (1993), A, B, C… Manhattan (1997), and Marathon (2002). His U.S. films have premiered at the Film Society of Lincoln Center/MOMA’s New Films New Director’s series, the Venice, Cannes, Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals. His last feature, Sound Barrier (2005), won the Roberto Rossellini Critics Prize at the Rome Film Festival. Vegas : Based on a True Story (2008) is his fifth American feature.

Director’s Statement

I wanted to combine my experimental and experiential styles of filmmaking with a more traditional narrative cinema. As with all my work, the experience of the lengthy and intense shoot, while living in the desert outside Vegas, was, for everyone involved, an important part of the development of the film; but keeping to the plot line was equally crucial.

I get asked about the ‘true story’ in the title. I don’t have to say it, but clearly the title is layered. Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time in and around Las Vegas, on and off the strip, in its desert towns and motels, its peripheral casinos, photographing the changes, meeting all sorts of people, witnessing their lives, listening to stories about what they had seen and done. This film is based on one of these encounters. So the title also refers to another truth, a certain truth about Vegas.

The film is about money, obsession and the ideas of home and land. I wanted to reach back to an older cinema, especially American cinema, people who influenced me in my youth and remain close to me. Now, after the experience of this film, I think I’m ready to make the film I’ve been waiting years to make: a movie about the moon. Why not? ….cut.

Cast: Nancy La Scala as Tracy, Mark Greenfield as Eddie, and Zach Thomas as Mitch
Supporting Cast: Walt Turner as Brian, Alexis Hart as Stephanie, and Cathy Leach as Doris
Director: Amir Naderi
Screenplay: Amir Naderi, Susan Brennan, Bliss Esposito, Charlie Lake Keaton
Editor: Amir Naderi
Producers: Amir Naderi, Abou Farman
Director of photography: Chris Edwards
Production Manager: Brandon Kordic
Sound editor: Jamie Canobbio
Associate Producers: Ram Devineni, Nasser Ghaderi
Rattapallax Films assisted with productions funds.
Format: 102 MIN. USA. 2008.











Alphaville Films NYC
Presents
Vegas: Based on a True Story
a film by Amir Naderi



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Vegas: Based on a True Story is an Alphaville Films NYC production. The screenplay was developed thanks to the New York State Council for the Arts and Independent Television Service (ITVS) with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).


Filmed on location in Las Vegas and Pahrump, Nevada.