Screening of 'The Queen and I' on 29th June at Prithvi House, Bombay
VIKALP@PRITHVI
Monday, 29th June, 2009
7 pm & 9:30 pm
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 Farrah’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. Queen Farrah 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 Farrah about the Shah’s repression has become not only a political conflict but a personal one, and Persson Sarvestani’s objectivity is shaken.
Both are women living in exile.
Over time, the two confront each other about their past, question their former beliefs, and share their grievances. Their relationship grows as they realize they have much in common as two strong women who have risen above hardships to continue evolving towards a positive future.
In this gripping, poignant consideration of subjectivity as truth, we learn that people write history. And can also heal it. The Queen and I, made by a former revolutionary who helped to overthrow the monarchy in Iran’s 1979 revolution, couldn’t be more relevant as we reach across our own political aisles.
Filmmaker Nahid Persson Sarvestani began a formalized study of television and film production in Sweden, and in 2003 attended Dramatiska Institutet. She has made several films in Iran under challenging conditions, among them Prostitution Behind the Veil, for which the Iranian authorities detained her for more than three months.
The Queen and I
Swedish/ 2008/ 90 mins
Director: Nahid Persson Sarvestani
Editor: Zinat S. Lloyd
Music: Mirage
Cinematographer: Nicklas Karpaty
Sound: Rostm Persson, William Kaplan, Arvid Lind
Publicist: Sara Vahabi
* No Entry Fee. Limited Seating.
* Prithvi House, Opposite Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu, Mumbai.
* The registration desk will be open between 6 pm to 6:45 pm and 8:30 to 9:15 pm.
* For more information, write to us at vikalp.prithvi@gmail.com
* For screening queries contact Anand Patwardhan 9819882244 Lynne Henry 9820896425
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