How many countries I have fallen in LOVE in all these years of my travels?
AUSTRALIA
USA
JAMAICA
ENGLAND
CUBA
AND HAVE FELT STRONG EMOTIONS FOR
MEXICO
ARGENTINA
FRANCE
BELGIUM
ISRAEL
MALAYSIA
MYANMAR
BUT HOW DID I FALL IN LOVE WITH IRAN?
i can summarize for you:
History: Persian Empire that extended to India to the East and Egypt to the West and that ruled India for 500 years through the Moghuls
Literature: I heard about Omar Khayyam while I was still at school. Then came other writers. Different friends introduced various writers: Ferduzi came from a friend in KL, Shamloo arrived with a friend from Karaj.. the list goes on .. where is my friend from Qizvin?
and then there are the movies:
White Baloon might have been the first Iranian movie I might have seen by Jafaar Panahi ( I saw his recent Three Faces also)
Makhmalbouf
Seperation of Ashgar Farhadi which left a deep impression on me because by that time I was aware of the reality of Iran.
I remember seeing this short film FROZEN ROSE a while ago and just today it came across in my searches. It is a very poignant short film.
The harsh winter
the land near the border
the useless and senseless war with Iraq
the young men off to the front
and the girls ability to predict death
all packaged in a short movie..
