6 minutes & 47 seconds of Tehran & its People to Kick Me in the Heart ...

Edited on Friday, March 01, 2012 to add a few more pictures!   

Screen shot of Artist's website (http://www.alimolavi.ir) which shows one of the Tehranians in this film

I miss Tehran. I have not been to Iran for the past 6-7 years. When I first arrived in America, I was happy for I did not have to see people of Tehran anymore. For years I only missed streets of Tehran, its dirty. littered streets, its dirty cabs, its dirty, noisy air. I never missed its People. I actually did not have much love for them when I left for America. But, streets are different. It's simply impossible to hate streets for me. Streets have no guilt. Streets did not betray you. streets are not homophobic. Streets do not want to oppress you. Streets are reliable. Streets feel your pain. Streets know your pain. Streets have to stand under never-ending steps of the heartless. Streets deserve to be loved. Streets are innocent. Your parents, siblings, friends, classmates, professors  rulers, ... are not innocent. They had choices and they did things. Streets have never had any choices.



Long story short,  My facade of happiness cracked open in June 2009. Same people, whom I disliked wholeheartedly, protested the murderous charlatans ruling Iran. Not just a few university students this time, but millions came to the streets. They embraced streets. And it made me proud. I became an Iranian again. It feels good.

Since June 2009, whenever I read, hear, or watch awful news from Iran, -- which happens every hour of every day that I surf internet -- I am always reminded that these people, these hapless folks, are same people who came to streets 5 years ago. Most of them are still in their 30s and alive. This makes me hopeful and happy -- most of the times.

So, stumbling upon a video, that makes me feel I am there, standing in front of the People on the streets of Tehran, as if I am part of Tehran, as if I am having a small talk with a fellow neighbor has been most emotionally stirring for me.

This video is a very short film of 6 minutes, and 47 seconds of fifty random strangers answering this question: What is your wish if you could only wish for one thing to happen till the end of this day?

The collection of answers we see in this video are touching, breath-taking, and brutally honest to say the least.  Watching this 6' 47" was like remembering the many emotions I felt living in Tehran for 24 years -- emotions that keep on living inside me still. So, if I want to sum this video up in one word, I must say it is stirring. It made me cry. And it felt good.

Watch for yourself. Please activate the English subtitles.

Check the Artists page for more info here.

Most of the Tehranians in this film are interviewed in the proximity of Nasr Grand Bazaar: 

Nasr Grand Bazaar in Gisha, Tehran, Iran. One of the locations used in this film. 

Gisha neighborhood was re-named Nasr (meaning Victory) some time after Islamic Revolution victory in 1979, but people still refer to this neighborhood as Gisha.  I am pretty sure its fist inhibitors were of Middle-Class Iranians, and I know it for I have many relatives living in Gisha.  It is supposed to have good schools.  

That red cross is Gisha neighborhood, which is approximately in the middle of city of Tehran.

Now, Nasr Grand Bazaar where this video interviews most of its subjects is that indigo cross:

First boy I dated lived in Gisha, and that is beside the fact my aunts live there! 
I have good memories of Gisha.