Wild Hogs and Saffron

Iranian-American filmmaker Andy Sarjahani and his childhood friend Bubba Samuels grew up together in Pope County, Arkansas. Over the years, they bonded over their love for dogs and adventuring in the hills, woods, and creeks of their native Ozarks. After 9/11, an 18-year-old Andy must reconcile the identity he hid to assimilate as a boy, while Bubba takes a diverging path. In the years following, anti-Middle Eastern rhetoric from the community they grew up in fuels a journey of self-examination as Andy moves through life straddling a cultural fault line, attempting to reconcile his two worlds. In Wild Hogs and Saffron, the two old friends reconnect in their native Ozarks for a wild hog hunt where unexpected conversations unfold that have a lasting impact on their friendship. Set against the backdrop of the natural world, masculine vulnerability within a traditionally hypermasculine space drives the story as the two men cross new thresholds attempting to make sense of a polarised world.