Nahid Persson Sarvestani’s “THE QUEEN AND I” Competes at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. A personal and Intimate Portrait of Iran’s Former Empress by an Iranian Expat 30 years after the Islamic Revolution that Ousted the Monarchy and the Pahlavi Royal Family to Uncertain Exile. Category World Cinema Competition: Documentary.
Watch Teaser of Documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObE3qkt7cZE&feature=channel_page
PLOT:
When Nahid Persson Sarvestani, an Iranian exile, set out to make a documentary about Farrah, the wife of the shah of Iran, she expected to encounter her opposite. As a child, Persson Sarvestani had lived in dire poverty, watching Farah’s wedding as if it were a fairy tale. As a teenager, she joined the Communist faction of Khomeini’s revolution that deposed the shah, sending him and his family volleying from country to country. When Khomeini betrayed his promise for democracy, imposing more violent measures than the shah had, Persson Sarvestani was also forced to flee. Thirty years later, she needs key questions answered and goes directly to the source. Surprisingly, Queen Farah welcomes her as a fellow refugee from their beloved homeland, granting unprecedented access. Over the next year and a half, Persson Sarvestani enters the queen’s world, planning to challenge the shah’s ideology; instead, she must rethink her own. When Persson Sarvestani’s prior opposition to the shah surfaces, the queen shuts down filming. Yet, in the struggle to understand each other’s experiences, an unlikely friendship has blossomed. Confronting Farah about the shah’s repression has become not only a political conflict but a personal one, and Persson Sarvestani’s objectivity is shaken.In this gripping, poignant consideration of subjectivity as truth, we learn that people write history. And can also heal it. The Queen and I couldn’t be more relevant as we reach across our own political aisles.
See Official Website of Film on Sundance Website Created by actor/director Robert Redford
Nahid Persson Sarvestani – Nahid Persson Sarvestani was born and raised in Iran. In Sweden, she began formalized study of television and film production and in 2003 attended Dramatiska Institutet. She has made films in Iran under dangerous conditions, among them Prostitution Behind the Veil, an Emmy-nominated documentary for which the Iranian authorities detained her for more than three months. This and other films have made Sarvestani the most award-winning documentary filmmaker in Swedish history.
Screenings:
Sat. Jan 17 6:15 p.m. – QUEEN174E Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Sun. Jan 18 8:30 a.m. – QUEEN18PM Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
Sun. Jan 18 6:45 p.m. – QUEEN18BE Broadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Fri. Jan 23 11:30 a.m. – QUEEN23PD Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
