We've never met, but we both appeared in the same movie: Waking Life.

Also, I called you on the phone once and asked if you could spare some of your short ends for a film I was making at the time. You said no, but you were nice about it.

I am writing to you now to ask for another favor.

My most recent film, "I Am A Sex Addict," was scheduled to open this Friday at a Landmark Theater in Berkeley (and subsequently in Chicago and Atlanta). Meanwhile, Mark Cuban has suddenly (yesterday) banned the film from all markets in which Comcast has a presence (because the film is being distributed by IFC and IFC has a day and date Video-on-Demand deal with Comcast, which has refused to carry Mark Cuban's HDnet and HDnet movies). Word has it that you and Mark Cuban are good friends, and that you might be able to wield some influence in the matter. I have asked Mr. Cuban to reconsider his decision, as the whole thing has nothing to do with my film, which I spent the last fourteen years trying to make (that's what the requested short ends were for), and which IFC Films has (thankfully) picked up for distribution. Mark Cuban has been faultlessly courteous and straightforward in his replies, but he has also refused to budge.

Since you yourself are a filmmaker, and someone who obviously cares quite deeply not only about the quality but also the politics of cinema, I am asking if there is anything you can do to help resolve the situation (I don't have your e-mail address unfortunately). My argument is that banning my film from Landmark isn't going to get Comcast to change their minds about HDNet, and that punishing me to punish them is a little bit like Bush invading Iraq - the analogy being that it's innocent civilians and bystanders who end up getting screwed the most, and it doesn't even accomplish its purported mission. The people getting screwed in this case, besides me, are the moviegoers who aren't going to be able to see the film because of an ill-conceived internecine dispute.

My sense of Mark Cuban is that he's a well-meaning and not unreasonable person, but I can't help thinking that your eloquence in this matter would be far more persuasive than mine.

In any case, I wish you the best of luck with your five (!) upcoming HD films for HDNet, and I wish HDNet every success in their struggle for a seat at the Comcast table.

With sincere admiration for your enviable body of work,

Caveh Zahedi