Filmmaker Talin Avakian’s ‘Demi Pointe’ Wins BIFF Award

BOSTON, Mass. (A.W.)—“Demi Pointe,” a short film written and directed by young filmmaker Talin Avakian, won the Indie Soul Best Picture Award in this year’s Boston International Film Festival (BIFF) held at the Boston Loews Cineplex/AMC from April 12-21.

Avakian (Center) with crew members after the screening at the BIFF. — Avakian (center) with crew members after the screening at the BIFF.

“I feel very blessed and satisfied after winning this award. It feels great, almost a year after finishing ‘Demi Pointe,’ to be recognized for all the work, energy, and time invested into this project,” said Avakian in an interview with the Armenian Weekly.

“I can’t take full credit for this achievement, though. I am so grateful for my cast, crew, family, friends, and Kickstarter supporters who made the completion of ‘Demi Pointe’ possible,” she added.

The BIFF is the largest international film festival in Massachusetts, and one of the largest in the United States. This year, “Demi Pointe” was chosen out of 2,600 entries, and was 1 of 100 films (both feature length and short) in the program.

“Demi Pointe” (featuring Sydney Penny, Rachel Scott, Robin Ann Rapoport, and Amy Freedman) is a short fictional narrative about a young girl, Sydney, who struggles to speak. As a selectively mute child, she retreats to her vivid imagination during class and other situations where she is expected to verbally communicate, as a way to escape her anxiety. Sydney begins to see a speech therapist, who decides to take an empathetic approach in therapy. As therapy progresses, Sydney discovers her love for ballet, and uses that as an outlet for communication.

Read our detailed interview with Talin Avakian, conducted in January 2013, here.