The Queen and I by Swedish-Iranian film maker Nahid Persson Sarvestani will feature this month as part of Bright Lights; The Baltic-Nordic Film Festival. The festival is presented by the Baltic and Nordic Embassies in collaboration with the Canadian Film Institute (CFI.)
The movie about the 1979-80 Iranian Revolution focuses on encounters between Persson Sarvestani, an Iranian exile in Sweden and the widow of Shah of Iran. Sarvestani seeks out the Shah’s widow, who considers herself to be the Queen of Iran, making for an oddly intimate encounter. Sarvestani simultaneously blames the widow for her husband’s brutal regime but shares the Queen’s longing to return to Iran. In the process, details are revealed about the Iranian Revolution of the film maker’s youth (Sarvestani was 17 at the time) and the complex relationship between the filmmaker and the Queen of Iran.
The much acclaimed Sarvestani is the recipient of the Golden Dragon at the Krakow Film Festival, Best International News Documentary award at the TV-Festival 2005 in Monte Carlo and the Crystal Award (Kristallen) by Swedish State Television. She also received an international Emmy nomination for the documentary Prostitution Behind the Veil.
The Queen and I will be shown at the Library and Archives Canada at 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa on Saturday, May 28 at 7:00pm. Admission is $8.00 for seniors and students and $12.00 for non-members. More information on the documentary film and the director is available at: www.swedishembassy.ca.
