Hot Docs

Tonight at Hot Docs (Canadian internatioal documentaries festival) I saw the documentary Miracle of Candeal on the music of black people in Brazil. It was a long (133 min) but genuine documentary. Like the director, who came and talked about his film before the screening, I fell in love with these "poor" and "pure" people along with their culture and music. In a great scene, there was a divine performanca of two singers with guitar. In another scene, the old grand mother touches the presenece of a saint in the room and starts shaking. She then bows for her grandson and an old Cuban muscian who is there to explore their music. The two men lie down and kiss the old women's feet. This scene was divine. Genuine sprituality. I was touched.

where am I from?

Whare am I from? This is the question people ask me all the time. I am trying to think....
My grand parents were as old as Nasereddin-Shah rea. They lived in Kashan at the time. They migrated to Tehran in late 13th century. My parent were born in Tehran in Reza Shah Period. I was born in Tehran before the Revolution. I have seen many cities in my life. Isfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, Kashan, Damascus, Istanbul, Rome, Paris, Vailladolid, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, London, NewYork, Ottawa and Montreal. It's been two years that I live in Toronto. Now... where am I really coming from? I have a bond with all the cities that I have been to. I don't know which city I really belong to. It took me so long to know what it means to be Iranian. It was restricting. So I moved out. Then I started to learn how to become Canadian. It is restricting too. Now, I am trying to be a citizen of the world. This is how I learn to care about all the human beings no matter what is their race and language and culture. I am worried about poeple in Iran as much as I am do for the people of Afghnestan, Iraq, Sudan, Tailand, Vietnam, and Palestine. It is all about being a human being and think of world as a place to live for all of us. What is the meaning of territoy? Men are creating these things and they fight for them. I am not part of this game. I am a woman...

I am just coming from an open discussion with BBC Persian on Iranian bloggers in Canada. There, I announced that soon I will start my own weblog. As you see, it didn't take me long. For those of you who know me from my film critisms back in Iran, I now have a new life in Canada. Many things have changed. In this weblog I am going to write about this transformation. About all the interesting things that I am experiencing in here: Films, life, art, etc. And about the challenges as well. I promise to be as honest as I can with myself and with my readers. Here is Sabereh and her new world....