Towelhead

Towelhead. (2007). Warner Home Video.
ASIN B001KQS3WU
116 min
Format: DVD
Genre: Issues
Classification: Drama
Age level: Rated R

Reader's annotation
A thirteen-year-old Arab-American girl named Jasira encounters her first romantic relationship, racism, and a predatory middle-aged neighbor in the Texas suburbs in the early 1990s.

Summary
The film Towelhead is set in the early 1990s in a Texas suburb. Thirteen-year-old Jasira is a beautiful girl of half Iranian descent who moves from her white mother’s home to be with her father, a scientist with an abrasive personality who has no idea how to live with a teenage girl. Jasira finds herself dealing with some serious situations on her own including a flirtatious middle aged neighbor, and changes in her own body. She finds friendship and support in a young couple living a few doors down and they are willing to help her navigate her perilous relationship with her father. Things come to a head when Jasira begins dating an African American boy against the wishes of her father.

Notes
Depite Jasira’s age, Towelhead is more appropriate viewing for older teens due to scenes of sexual encounters and abuse. Overall the tone of the movie is positive as Jasira is very self-possessed and intelligent and has a good support system in her friends. Based on Alicia Erian's novel.

Awards and honors
2009 Independent Spirit Awards: Best Female Lead nominee: Summer Bishil