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Caught Between Two Worlds
by Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri and Simin Farkhondeh (USA/Iran, 2007, 58 min, MiniDV)
April 16, 2008 6:30 PM
Cantor Film Center, New York University, 36 East 8th Street, New York City.
Preceded by the New York Premiere of Voices by Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri and Simin Farkhondeh (USA/Iran, 2007, 20 min, MiniDV).
Voices features noted Iranian-American academics, journalists and doctors candidly discussing what assimilation, transition, identity and cultural adaptation has meant for them. Voices is a poignant new exploration by directors Sadegh-Vaziri and Fakhondeh about what it means to be Iranian in the United States today.
Post-screening discussion with directors Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri and Simin Farkhondeh.
Synopsis
Many Iranians left their country to seek refuge abroad in the events leading up to and following the 1979 revolution and birth of the Islamic Republic with some settling in the U.S. Alongside the usual challenges of engaging with a new culture and language, these Iranian immigrants have also had to deal with the traumas of revolution, the hostage crisis, and more recently, post 9/11 realities. Punctuated by the hip-hop inspired poetry of Iranian-American writer Sahar, this powerful documentary addresses the challenges of Iranian life in the U.S., offering a rich tapestry, unraveling layer upon layer of meaning to the experience of what it is like to be 'caught between two worlds.'
Filmmaker's Biography
Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri is an independent filmmaker, born and raised in Tehran, Iran. When the revolution in Iran broke out she was compelled to stay in the US, where she received her BA from Trinity College in Hartford, Ct., and an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University. She works as producer for Link Television on the Bridge to Iran series. She produced an award-winning series about the war in Iraq for Deep Dish TV which was at the 2006 Whitney Biennial; and for Trinity TV she produced documentaries about 9/11. She teaches film studies courses at New York University. She has also worked for the award-winning PBS series POV and curated a documentary film festival in Tehran. Her personal documentaries about Iran were broadcasted on PBS and have been shown widely in museums, art houses and universities. They are: WOMEN LIKE US (2002); A PLACE CALLED HOME, (1998); FAR FROM IRAN (1990); and JOURNAL FROM TEHRAN (1987), a memoir of war days in Tehran, which was a prize winner and was screened at the Independent Focus series of PBS. Her work is distributed by Women Make Movies.
Simin Farkhondeh is an award winning filmmaker, who has been working as an independent producer, artist, educator and activist in New York, Europe and Iran. She was born in Germany and raised in Iran and went to college in the US. In 1991 she co-produced, co-directed the Gulf Crisis TV Project, an award winning series that aired on PBS, Channel Four of England and was screened at the Whitney Biennial, and the Margaret Mead Film. From 1995 to 2003. she was director of Labor at the Crossroads, a monthly TV program about work issues, which aired on cable, channel 75 in New York and other cities across the US. The program received the MNN Award. In 1999 she produced ADJUNCT AGONY, a short dramatic piece about the plight of adjunct faculty in US universities, and in 2001 she produced SALT PEANUTS a look at the effect of September 11 on airline workers, which screened at the Museum of Modern Art. Simin is a recipient of the Rockefeller Fellowship Award for Who Gives Kisses Freely From Her Lips, and co-producer, co-director of Caught Between Two Worlds. She teaches film theory and art at Hampshire College.
Print Source
Persheng Vaziri, E-mail: psv1@nyu.edu
Simin Farkhondeh, E-mail: siminminou@yahoo.com
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