Persian Tapestry and the Liu Institute present:
"What you have always wanted to know about (IRAN) but were afraid to ask!"
An interactive multimedia evening on alternative images of Iranians:
Date: March 17th, 2004 Time: 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Venue: The Liu Institute for Global Issues 6476 NW Marine Drive (UBC: Gate 4 across from the Anthropology Museum)
Program Outline:
* "An old civilization in the eyes' of a "FARANGI"! Maurice Copithorne (UBC Law Faculty,one of the the founding staff of the Canadian Embassy in Tehran and former Special UN epresentative on Human Rights)
* "The Window to Iran Project" www.windowtoiran.com A group of Canadian media students who travel through Iran to document what they discover first-hand.
"To my surprise they certainly had a much better understanding of our culture than I had of theirs." Erin Cumming
* "Nations without States: Images from everyday life in Iran" Zohreh Bayatrizi (Ph.D. Candidate, UBC Department of Anthropology and Sociology)
By focusing on everyday life of the ordinary people not likely seen in mass media, her slide show attempts to offer a de-politicized (or less politicized) image of Iranians.
When: Wednesday, March 17th at 7:00 P.M.
Where: Z Space - 131 Tenth St. between Mission & Howard in San Francisco
Info: 415.626.4061
A slide presentation on the nomads of Iran and the Bedouin of the Arabian peninsula, presented by Brid Beeler, Director of Worlds Apart, an educational travel company specializing in the Middle East.
Brid Beeler has made a profession of adventure travel for more than a decade as an expedition leader in the Middle East, in what was once forbidden countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran and Oman. Born in Kinsale on the Irish coast, Brid achieved her dream to travel around the world overland in 1987. Life has since been a migration between the US and the Middle East for more than 15 years to date. In Iran the nomadic tribes believe she was a nomad in another life. In Saudi Arabia and Yemen, she is known respectively as Al Sheikha the Sheikh, and Al Bedwea – the Bedouin.
One of only a handful of women selected, she was invited by the Saudi Arabian government to present a paper at an International Conference in Riyadh on eco-tourism in the Middle East. A published travel writer and photographer, Brid was the facilitator of a documentary on the migration of the Quashqai nomads in Iran in the Spring of 2003. This film is part of a series documenting the last four great migrations on earth.
Founder of Worlds Apart, an educational travel company specializing in the Middle East, with the goal of helping to bridge the gap between the west and east through travel. Brid was Director of Discovery Channel Adventures part of Discovery Communications Inc.
Subject: Movie Trilogies @ The Persian Center Wednesdays @ 7pm 2029 Durant Ave in Berkeley
ISAA & The Persian Center proudly present a mid-weekly escape from reality. Bring friends, eat popcorn, and explore vast worlds.
Films from different countries and genres. Obscure shorts and puzzling facts. Obsessive filmmakers with an agenda. Tied together in bundles of three, each with its own theme...
March 17: Close-Up (directed by Abbas Kiarostami)
March 31: Mean Streets (directed by Martin Scorsese)
Year: 1999 Running Time: 25 minutes Country: Iran/UK Cast: Omid Djalili
Showtime: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 @ 7:10 pm
Director: Marjan Safinia & Parisa Taghizadeh
Description: "But You Speak Such Good English" is a documentary which explores different aspects of the first generation of Iranian immigrant experience from the insider’s perspective.
The film focuses on the younger generation, who have very few memories of their country, and yet feel an undeniable pull towards identifying themselves as Iranians. The film is a fast paced and above all very entertaining look at the issues of ethnicity and separation told from the point of view of four dynamic and funny characters, including the stand-up comic, Omid Djalili, the star of the new Whoopi Goldberg Show.
http://www.tiburonfilmfestival.com/film_info.asp?film_id=991
Screening With: Iran Is My Home
Year: 2003 Running Time: 68 minutes Country: Iran Showtime: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 @ 7:10 pm Director: Fariborz David Diaan
Description: Filmaker Fariborz David Diaan, an expatriate residing in Los Angeles, left his native Iran in 1976, unable to return due to the sudden and fierce changes that rocked Iran in 1979. However, motivated by a deep longing to visit his motherland, and due to the recent easing up of tensions, he finally deemed it safe enough to pay a visit. Ready for a culture shock, yet haunted by fading memories of his childhood, Diaan filmed his journey with an adoring eye, eager to capture every moment. He cautiously traversed the streets without a crew or equipment, armed only with a handheld camera small enough to hide from authorities, hoping that somehow he would be able to smuggle his tapes out of the country without them being confiscated. Through candid and unrehearsed interviews on the streets. Diaan delves into the hearts and minds of a humble people surrounded on the one hand by the remnants of mystical Persia, and on the enroachment realities of a modern world on the other. What strikes him most, however is the beauty and promise of a bright new generation of Iranian youth that is sure to demand the freedom and the happiness that citizens of every land deserve.
http://www.tiburonfilmfestival.com/film_info.asp?film_id=905
Screening With: But You Speak Such Good English