mossadegh & me (working title) script · 2013-10-02 · ! 1! mossadegh & me (working title)...

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MOSSADEGH & ME (working title) SCRIPT

NOTE ON TONE AND STYLE: Utilizing slow-motion and tracking shots, the film’s rhythmic pacing and fluid accretion of narrative will resonate with the formal character of the Persian poetry that is so essential to the story. Beyond formal resonance, the documentary’s visual style will enact the complex interplay of memory and history that lies at the center of the narration. By the time the narrator explicitly compares this narrative’s experience with Alain Resnais’ NIGHT AND FOG, as indicated in the narrative, the thematic and aesthetic connectivity of personal, cultural, and poetic associations will have been implicitly introduced in the meditative style and texture of the film. NOTE ON POETRY: The poetry sections will be stylized in sync with the rhythm above. The poetry will be read by a second voice in Farsi, presenting for the viewer both the subliminal interplays of the senses in the experiencing of the musical verse as well as the tension marking the dissonant interplay between these two languages, as the words will be subtitled in English on-screen. At times when we feel this confuses the viewer, we’ll begin in Farsi, then after a few words have it fade faintly into the background as it’s dubbed in English. The words will flicker on in keeping with the spirit of the poetry. NOTE ON INTERSTITIALS: With the interviews’ speculations of what could have been, each interstitial can, in part, function as an episode in a story of an imagined Iran (i.e., an Iran in 2025 if Mossadegh’s vision was realized). The interstitials will be the manifestation of this idea that is in the heart of the Iranian Diaspora. It is an ode to a dream that remains an element in Iranians across the globe, and therefore relevant to the memory of the 1950s in Iran. FINAL PRODUCTION NOTE: Because so much of this film and many of the interviews have yet to be filmed, please assume additional voices of Mossadeghis, along with additional scholars, will help shape the story.

VIDEO AUDIO SCENE ONE OPENING: Shot of an animated book. The cover reads Once Upon a Time. A hand opens up the book to: Archival 1960s, beautiful 20-something girl with beehive walking towards the camera blowing a kiss. Aerial downtown Chicago,

Composed music, feels like classic rock from the 1970s NARRATION: The story was my mother crank-called my father in the early ’60s, There were so few Iranians living in Chicago, when you looked through the phone book you could pick them out by their names.

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1960s, flying over river by Marina City. Happy Couple in Florida on honeymoon, walking towards camera, in bathing suits by pool. Young family in front yard of suburban home. Archival 1979, little girl at gymnastics meet, in pigtails and leotard. CUT TO BLACK News Report: November 4, 1979. Ted Koppel reporting on Nightline. Archival footage: hostages, protesters. Streets of Iran, 1979. Father in 1960, USA. Walking in a sharp suit. Looking very hairy & happy on a beach. Jumping off a diving board. TITLE: MOSSADEGH & ME

They often knew each other, because, like lots of immigrant groups, they stuck together in their new homeland. Years later they would be living the American dream. Or that was the story. Living in a high rise downtown, raising too many girls, getting ahead. I remember growing up and having my own story. “Yes, my parents are from Iran. No, we don’t have jewels…my family has no oil… (in a conversational tone) Well, family always comes here, but… no, we rarely go back.” It was 1979, and things changed. Quickly. “Good evening. The U.S. embassy has been taking over by a group of Iranian students….” [Tonal/Musical shift here] NARR: In Iran, 52 Americans were taken hostage. For 444 days, nightly stories confirmed a new enemy and terrorist movement. The Iranians looked so angry; and so mean. They were yelling, chanting, “Death to America!” The stories I heard on television made me hate them. Strangely, at school, those stories just made the kids hate me. [Beat] But my father told me another story. A story about a country he grew up in that was on the verge of democracy. A country that believed in social justice and equality, and a story about a great leader named Mohammed Mossadegh. And I liked that story. [Music in bg/fade to sounds of the streets of Tehran]

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2. INTERSTITIAL 1(Animation): Mossadegh’s Iran, 2025

This first segment will segue from the personal to the universal. As we remember the hostage crisis, the film will morph into a visual of an opposite Iran, Mossadegh’s Iran. The animation will mimic existing footage of the streets of Tehran and animate them to create a Mossadeghi Iran: We drive through downtown Tehran, passing a statue of Mossadegh, a family happily leaving a mosque, another leaving a synagogue or temple, people are dressed in Western styles & chadors alike. It feels free. We hear voice-over from interviews of what might have happened if

Mossadegh was allowed to complete his vision.

VIDEO AUDIO As the above fades out, we hear this bite, then On Camera:

Mehrdad Kia[Clip 4–– 00:19:32] When you mention Mossadegh for example, I think that in the American general consciousness, Mossadegh is a blip on the historical radar. You know it is one of those things the United States had to do in order to protect its own economic interests at a time when the Cold War was unfolding.

[Clip 4–– 00:20:46] In Iran, Mossadegh’s premiership and those, over, two years of him being in power and the tragic end and the overthrow is the central piece of its history.

VISUAL: TRANSITION BACK TO 1979. ARCHIVAL NEWS FOOTAGE. PHOTOGRAPHS OF HOSTAGES, KHOMENEI, JIMMY CARTER.

Narr: In America in 1979, there was a small but healthy population of Middle-Easterners. They assimilated easily with their American brothers and sisters, flying under the radar until the hostage crisis changed, well, everything.

FOOTAGE: HOME Narrator: It was only after the hostage crisis that I became

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ARCHIVAL, US 70S/80S A clip from “Charlie’s Angels” – three pretty white ladies running down the street. A photo of me and my sisters acting like “Charlie’s Angels.”

interested in all things Iranian – food, history, the Persian New Year that occurs every Spring Equinox. [beat] Living through the crisis as a “symbol of the other,” I knew I needed to find out what that OTHER meant. It was before “ethnic pride” really came into vogue, but I knew I needed to find things I could be proud of, and there were many.

TRANSITION TO MOSSADEGH. ACT 1: Promise

ACT ONE: PROMISE

Tonal Shift: the music shifts to Persian instrumental.

The Archival footage is in slow-motion at first, and then 30fps.

3. GRAPHIC: 1979 title rolls back to 1949, keeps going back 48, 47 as we fade out

VIDEO AUDIO ARCHIVAL 1940S IN IRAN: B/W TO COLOR: THE CASPIAN SEA WAVES CRASHING WIDE SHOT THEN AERIAL TEHRAN WITH THE MOUNTAINS by last line.

Hushang Ebtehaj, from “Coral:” A rock under water, a broken rock it’s alive, beating in the deep with hope in a beloved’s breast, it would be a heart in the lap of the sun, it would be a flower.

(WITH ANIMATED MAP, SHOW IRAN AND population, then gray British and Russian ‘sections’ along with narration)

Narr: Iran experienced an unprecedented political freedom from 1941 – 1953. World War II was ending and their oil-rich land, combined with their wartime neutrality, left many acquaintances and few friends. The British and the Russians were both staking their claims on their Iranian interests.

ON CAMERA & ARCHIVAL

Establish The 1940s in Iran. Scholars Janet Afary and Mehrdad KiaKia will set the stage. Get a sense of a bourgeoning middle

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Hafez Farmayan, Interview Winter 2012

class, unprecedented political and religious freedom, and the feeling that a new dawn was coming. We will hear from people who lived in Iran in the 1940s: Hafez Farmayan, Kim Sadi, Cyrus Sadri, and Cyrus Serry will create a window into life in Iran at the time. For example:

Mehrdad Kia: [00:8:41]After Reza-Shah of course you have the beginning of a new era of openness and democracy and then you have Mossadegh rising to prominence in 1940s.

Scholars from above setting up who Mossadegh was. What the 1940s were like.

KIM SADI: Iran just, like in the states we call 500 corporation. Iran we have 500 family. [00:42:58.14]… Mossadegh was from very well off family… But he thought ideology is something … more important than just … just adding more wealth to their wealth.


Hooshang Niku clip 2 [00:07:01.21]… all our life, anything happens to Iran we say, "oh ok, it's done by Russian or it's done by British." … the regular perception of the average person (was) that nothing could be done unless British or Russian will influence it. HN [00:09:16.07]...we were a weak country


Janet Afary/James Gritzner/Mark Gasiorowski: talk of the British at the time ruling the oil fields for decades. They ruled the oil w/ their signature iron fist, offering very little compensation to Iran or its workers. But this was the status quo. History had not yet taught them that overt colonization was a one-way street soon to end.


Hooshang Niku (Iranian Petroleum Engineer) and Professor James Gritzner describe the deals in place between Anglo-Iran Oil (BP Oil) and Iran, compare them to others at the time. We

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set the stage for workers’ paltry living and working conditions, and the British’s errant failure to make any improvements. Scholars will establish Mossadegh’s anger around the oil situation, albeit passive at first, by emigrating from Iran to Europe in protest. But after years of school and law he chose to return.


Various interviews with scholars and those who experienced it first-hand will inform us that Mohammed Mossadegh came from a wealthy, aristocratic family. He came of age at an exciting time in Iran: the constitution had been rewritten in 1906 by the liberal intellectual elite. We will get the sense of what he was made of, where his focuses were, and that he was unlike any leader that came before him. Too good to be true. We will also hint at his idiosyncrasies.


Hooshang Niku, then a teenager in Tehran: we were not involved in politics. … Life was normal ’til... Mosaddegh came to power and suddenly everybody was trying to become a politician. And then we saw that the different parties, different political parties they were formed.


Afary: Interview here to explain that in 1941, Reza Shah Pahlavi was removed from power by the allies and his son comes to power, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and, at this time he's a young playboy and not really interested in politics. Continue on relationship between Mossadegh & Reza Shah in the 1940s. Mossadegh always respected the dynasty.

ARCHIVAL IMAGERY TO MATCH

Kim Sadi Bite: [00:17:45.11] I was becoming a teenager when (WWII) was … going on. And Iran was a center of many changes. [00:18:39.10] Near the end of the war Roosevelt and Stalin and Churchill, they met in Tehran… That's why a lot of young people were curious.

ARCHIVAL SHOT OF KIM SADI AT NATIONAL PARTY MEETING SMILING, LOOKING YOUNG

KIM SADI [00:23:02.13] …I was the youngest in the family, but I was always trying to do the things that my brother[s?] didn't try.

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Saed Fatemi talks about being a university student and being so inspired by Mossadegh that he began going to his home after school to be a part of it all. He eventually became his translator, and his uncle the well-known Hossein Fatemi, Foreign Affairs Minister & motivator behind the nationalizing of oil during Mossadegh’s rule. Hossein Fatemi was executed by the Shah just months after the coup.

ARCHIVAL: MOSSADEGHIS IN IRAN, 1940S/EARLY 50S. HOME MOVIES, ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE, INTERVIEWS, POSSIBLE ANIMATION/GRAPHICS.

From my father’s memories, connect with others who experienced the time and experts who can set the stage for the rise of Mossadegh. From Cyrus Sadri, University of Tehran Literature Student and good friend of my father, hear about their childhood and the spirit that led them both to Mossadegh (later we’ll hear about what led them to the U.S.). It was a magical time, Cyrus says. I’ve never experienced anything like it since.

From magical time imagery, transform to either animation or beautiful Iranian cinematography: Iranian fields, tight on wind hitting the grass; visuals emitting Spring is erupting in the countryside.

Simin Behbahani, from “It’s Time to Mow the Flowers:” My poems and the wild mint bear messages and perfumes. Don’t let them create a riot with their wild singing. My heart is greener than green, flowers sprout from the mud and water of my being. Don’t let me stand, if you are the enemies of Spring.

Images of SHAHNAMEH, the epic and popular Book of Kings.

Mehrdad Kia will connect the poetry to the history of Iranian culture. Poetry has been paramount in Persian homes for generations. Dr. Kia will explain its intrinsic place in the fabric of the people.

Mehrdad Kia[Clip 4––00:15:32] The poetry is so beautiful, so rhythmic, that it allows you to almost feel as if you are living some of the scenes that Ferdowsi portrays.

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Mehrdad Kia[Clip 4––0016:30] I think it gives, it imbued, the Iranian culture with a sense of pride in their history with a sense of great achievements in their history. It created some of the most lasting heroes of world mythology.”

4. INTRODUCING POETRY VIDEO AUDIO

When Kim Sadi reads Rumi, we will morph his i/v into animation of an 18-year old reading Rumi, my father then. Cut to

Current day. My father is looking through a book in Farsi, it’s bound but still looks homemade. He tells me in the late 1940s, when he was a teenager, he compiled a book of poets and philosophers’ quotes on different subjects, such as Freedom, Government, Politics, Love, etc. We will hear an excerpt from the book, first in Farsi and then my father will translate to English. It ends up the quote was said by Ben Franklin or William Shakespeare, or possibly Napoleon. (These are the voices a teenage boy in Tehran had access to at the time.) **note: we will return to the book later to transition in and out of sections. He will follow up with a line from Rumi, or Molavi as he calls him.

Images of Rumi Illustrations (archival) of kids in Iranian homes, traditional scenes.

Narration: Rumi was the great, Persian mystic poet of the 13th century. He was a spiritual leader, a visionary and a voice not only of his time, but one that still resonates in Iran today. (audio of Iranian children) In Iran, it is said that poetry is fed to children through their mother’s milk. Later, poetry is memorized at school, shared at home; an integral part of their lives. Over time, those words become personalized, politicized, mythologized.


Cyrus Sadri tells us about the game MO SHA AREY (translated as CONVERSATION): a poetry train game played in many Iranian homes. One person recites a poem that ends in a word, i.e. pomegranate. The next person starts a poem with pomegranate in it, and it goes on until no one has a poem to

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share. The game can go on for hours. It was free, Cyrus remembers, and so we would play it all night long…it made all of our poetry and memorization fun.


Mehrdad Kia [Clip 7– 00:10:49] MO SHA AREY was actually also a program on the radio and as a child I would listen to that… And I believe, if I am not mistaken, that it went for an hour. Can you imagine, how many poems you have to memorize to actually go back and forth and be ready because it is always a surprise, you don’t know what the other person would come up with. And the winner would be the one who would just out recite the other person… So I can never match those guys who did MO SHA AREY. Who won major awards.”

5. CONNECT MOSSADEGH TO POETRY & CULTURE

VIDEO AUDIO IRANIAN IMAGERY, COLOR IMAGE OF A PROTEST

• Sa’di, from The Gulistan: Gladly I munch my hunk of bread, and wear the rags you see, Because to be beholden is worse than starving free.


Scholar Hafez Farmayan on Mossadegh’s relationship to poetry and education. How he embraced his altruistic ways through this teaching. Set up that he was a devout, dogmatic man.

6. MOSSADEGH’s Rise

VIDEO AUDIO Interstitial 2: ANIMATION: OF THE PRINTING PRESS. YOUNG PEOPLE WORKING, HANDING OUT AND DROPPING OFF NEWSPAPERS AROUND TEHRAN.

Here, we will return to my father in the early 1950s at school, when he and his peers began working on political newspapers. Hear from Cyrus that my father was the editor of Mardomeh Iran. Hear from my father that he devoted years of his life to the newspaper and the cause.

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Saed Fatemi: We hear from Mossadegh’s translator and Hossein Fatemi’s nephew (Mossadegh’s cabinet member who was executed soon after the coup by the Shah’s army) about working closely with Mossadegh. Mossadegh would fill his house with young workers, always treated everyone very well, was always very kind. He talks about what an inspiration he was.

VISUAL: ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE/PRINT, RECREATE ELEMENTS OF TIME, INTERVIEWS.

Mehrdad Kia[Clip 2–– 00:01:55] I remember as a child that his name was always mention as a man who tried to restore Iran’s sovereignty over its oil resources… he was the person who believed that a country is not politically independent unless it is economically independent. And as long as Iran did not control its own economic resources and in this case, it could not really be called an independent state.

ON CAMERA AND ARCHIVAL

Hooshang Niku, who was a teenager at the time in Tehran: Mosaddegh did something that every nationalist Iranian want to do but never had the courage, to do it… we were all happy, we admired him. And everybody, including the Shah, everybody was behind the Mosaddegh, even the religious people, clergies. (It was) the only time the country unify was when Mosaddegh nationalized the oil.


Scholars explain how Mossadegh’s success peaked on Persian New Year, 1951, when Mossadegh and the Parliament nationalized oil and he was immediately appointed prime minister by the Majlis.

Kim Sadi: “When Mossadegh came into power, people of Iran wanted a Republic like the United States. So when Mossadegh became Prime Minister, the excitement was similar, I would say, to when Obama was elected. Like Obama, we had limitations in what we could do. The difference was with Mossadegh we started very strong. We had nationalized oil. We were so proud of ourselves. Iranians who were abroad came home, it was a time to be in Iran.”


Janet Afary #1 [00:02:51.14] He then emerges as Iranian Prime Minister in 1951. The enormously popular Prime Minister, these are the years that are more well-known, 1951 to 53. When he's going through a number of battles at the same time. So the most well known (*?) is of course the oil companies um, and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Ah but he's also waging a battle at home, and this is the part that's less known, cuz he was a reformer,

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he wanted to reduce the powers of the king and he had a number of incredibly progressive social issues that the was tackling in the period.


Scholars on what he did in office. Janet Afary on his domestic policies and James Gritzner and others on the nationalizing of Oil.

ARCHIVAL AND ORIGINAL JUXTAPOSED BELOW: TEHRAN CONTEMPORARY, SUNLIGHT THROUGH THE TREES, BLURRY WIDE SHOTS OF MANY AT PARK, CUT TO SIMILAR SHOT FROM YEARS AGO. THE PACING AND RHYTHM IS SLOW, THE PANS AND DOLLYS THOUGHTFUL. THEY ARE IN STEP WITH THE POEM.

RUMI 556 Daylight, full of small dancing particle And the one great turning, our souls Are dancing with you, without feet, they dance. Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?

NEWSPAPERS, HEADLINES – UK AND US

ARCHIVAL TO MATCH

Scholars Mark Gasiorowski and Writer Stephen Kinzer explain the reaction in the U.K. and the U.S. at the time. We will hear that throughout his time in office, Mossadegh enjoyed the majority’s support in his country, while being portrayed as a pathetic madman in the U.K. and a democratic menace in the U.S.,

VISUALS THAT FIT WITHIN THE ARCHIVAL “SANDWICH” OF THE SCENE, BUT IMAGERY-ORIENTED, FEELING LIKE A “MOVEMENT THAT CAN’T BE INTIMIDATED”

Transition to a Rumi poem called This Longing, this ache within the ache. Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to Don’t try to see through the distances. That’s not for human beings. Move within. But don’t move the way fear makes you move.

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7. BUYING BONDS SECTION

VIDEO AUDIO VISUALS WILL BE ARCHIVAL TURNED ANIMATION OF PEOPLE SELLING EVERYTHING FOR BONDS.

Hooshang Niku clip 2 [00:09:39.22] the British … didn't give up. They brought a, navy to (the) Persian Gulf. And they threatened that they would … occupy Iran again. [00:10:43.12]…. The income from Oil dropped, and inflation soared. … So the Mosaddegh had no choice but to ask people for help. And that's where he issued this government guaranteed bonds. And within a month believe it or not, the rich, poor and average person bought the bonds.

ON CAMERA & ARCHIVAL Scholars inform us that when Mossadegh nationalized oil, the international sanctions Iran experienced bankrupted the government. We hear from Iranians about buying bonds for Mossadegh’s regime to stay afloat.

ON CAMERA & ARCHIVAL KIM SADI (00:27:00:00) Mossadegh … just like Kennedy said, "what you can do for your country not what we can do for you." Hooshang clip [00:09:39.22]... In our school we all lined up to buy the bonds with whatever little money we had… I had in saving accounts, or in, y'know money boxes. [00:12:05.15]… because people didn't have any,…money, they would sell their… earrings and rings … just to buy the bond. [00:09:39.22] We brought to school and we bought bonds. Cyrus Sadri I remember, Gita Jan, old ladies selling their pots and pans to buy bonds! Hooshang: The only time that I remember the whole country was unified. That's how Mosaddegh came to live again because we had some money and he was so supported. [00:11:48.24] KIM SADI [00:27:22.16]...People were sacrificing for Mossadegh. Hooshang [00:09:39.22] Within one month the bond was sold. [00:12:27.06]Just one, one, one country, one people, honestly.

ON CAMERA & ARCHIVAL Hooshang clip 2 [00:00:46.13]…We were very proud, ...that was the only time that every Iranian individual felt that we are accomplishing something, … Buying this… government bonds. Helping. And that's how the whole country was unified. … And

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so we all were in the same boat. Y'know, we all the same in supporting the government. That feeling was really good. Even for a 15 years old kid.

IRANIAN IMAGERY OF PROGRESS

•Omar Khayyám, from Rubá’iyát: The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

8. INTERSTITIAL 3: A BETTER WORLD

VIDEO AUDIO We see a similar Animated scene from an earlier interstitial. There is Mossadegh and many people cheering on the street. They are on bikes. The sun is shining. Mossadegh is offering food and books, everyone is happy.

Rumi, from the Masnavi-ye Ma’navi: Although they were consigned to death in winter, in spring he made them live and gave them leaves.

Music interlude

9. MOSSADEGH IN POWER

VIDEO AUDIO ON CAMERA AND ARCHIVAL

Kim Sadi bite; [00:04:38.00] When I almost was almost ...21, and I was a part of the, party we called it Hezb-e Iran and we…were a big help to him. [00:23:02.13] During the Mossadegh time the youth …we’re all try(ing) to improve our self, we try to educate our self in a politic, understand a politic, and even philosophy. [00:07:13.29] Possibly return to father’s “book” here with a snippet that works.


KIM SADI [00:28:55.02]… Mossadegh changed everyone. Mossadegh taught people to be human, people not to be selfish. [00:28:15.16]…People did sacrifice to make it work… probably 2, 3 times a month in the radio we used to hear him. … people

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respected his ideas (but) not necessarily his body

Audio of radio addresses in background KIM SADI [00:27:22.16] (cont.) At the same time we had opposition. We knew we are playing with our life when we were going to some of those demonstration.

U.S. AND IRANIAN ARCHIVAL, INTERVIEWS, ANIMATION/RE-CREATIONS OF ELEMENTS OF THE TIME. POPULAR AMERICAN MUSIC IN IRAN AT THE TIME WILL SURPRISE AND ENHANCE THE SCENE.

From Interviews we get a FULL VIEW of Mossadegh: Often found in his pink pajamas in bed taking visitors. So sensitive that he would often cry through speeches. Dogmatic. Righteous. All about the people, and the inner dealings with the Shah, the oil industry and relations with the West. In this segment, the streets of Iran are alive and inspired.

VISUAL ELEMENTS: ARCHIVAL, INTERVIEWS.

Hear from my father and others about the excitement in the country. We include the disappointments and challenges of Mossadegh’s reign – the real personality traits that helped and hindered this new vision for Iran. Hear from Iranians who felt Mossadegh, though well intentioned, was failing and should’ve been ousted. Feel the precariousness of the moment in Iran.

TRANSITION TO Revisit my father and his book. He gets to the Politics Page. He reads a quote, first in Farsi, then English. Find a quote for this

U.S. IN THE 1950S. IMAGERY OF “FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY, TRUMAN AS PRESIDENT”

Narration: In 1951, Iran saw the U.S. as a model of democracy and a long-standing friend. Ideologically, the U.S. exemplified what Iran was looking for: a nation run on self-determination and free of colonial intervention.

TITLE ON SCREEN FOR A BEAT

"We must all acknowledge that however great our power, we must deny ourselves the freedom of doing whatever we want."

President Truman

Mark Gasiorowski explaining how different U.S. and Britain were viewed in Iran at the time.

Return to 2025 Imagine Iran INTERSTITIAL(1) for a beat. The UN in downtown Tehran

Professor Mehrdad Kia & Professor James Gritzner on the importance of oil to this history.

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with all the flags waving, tight on Iran and U.S. flags next to one another AS NARRATION BELOW IS READ WE RETURN TO THE ANIMATED OIL-FLOODED TEHRAN AND CHANGE OUR PERSPECTIVE TO AN AERIAL SHOT THAT WIDENS INTO A WORLD MAP. THAT OIL CREATES A LINK ALL THE WAY OVER TO THE U.S.

Narr: As tensions rose between the UK and Iran, Mossadegh turned to President Truman to mediate. The Premier assured Truman of Iran’s hopes for independence and desire to serve the West with oil, as well as keep relations friendly. A bite from a letter Mossadegh wrote to Truman here.

Visuals included various articles in UK and U.S. papers calling Mossadegh a madman, etc. End w/ Time Magazine Man of the Year Cover Image of Mossadegh CU of the Article

Mark Gasiorowski & Janet Afary on the different propaganda re: Mossadegh. Scholars on the article and what it meant. Hafez on being in the U.S. when Mossadegh became ‘man of the year’. A few bites from the article.

10. MR. MOSSADEGH GOES TO WASHINGTON!

VIDEO AUDIO ANIMATION/RE-CREATIONS OF ELEMENTS OF THE TIME.

Narration: Reaching a stalemate with the AIOC, Mossadegh is summoned to the UN for a hearing on Iran’s right to nationalize their oil industry.

Archival: AIOC Archival: UN 1950s in NY.

Set up the anger Britain and AIOC had over the nationalizing of oil. Scholars re-tell the story of Mossadegh traveling to New York to defend Iran’s right to nationalize its oil industry to the UN Security council. He gave a dramatic speech and was victorious, the UN sided with Iran. Now, Britain only had two choices: negotiate or overthrow. They did not want to negotiate. Bite here on how his freedoms allowed him this very American moment!

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Archival Americana 1950, 1951 To set up: A bite from “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” when Smith launches a filibuster to postpone the appropriations bill and prove his innocence on the Senate floor. He talks non-stop for about 24 hours, reaffirming the American ideals of freedom and disclosing the true motives of the scheme against his national boy’s camp.

AMPLE COVERAGE OF HIS VISIT HERE

Match visual After the success with the UN Security Council, Mossadegh headed for Washington, D.C. to meet with Truman.

IMAGES FROM MOSSADEGH’S MEETING WITH PRESIDENT TRUMAN IN 1951

Scholars tell us of his visit. Mossadegh had some medical treatment while in D.C., which extended his trip to two weeks. He met with Truman on the oil negotiations, but hit an impasse. Mossadegh was dogmatic in his views, and not willing to negotiate with the West on the oil deal. He left looking like a success to the world, but the oil talks failed for the West. Scholar saying Mossadegh was the most visible symbol of a trend toward independence in the East that the West believed presented a “fundamental moral challenge.”

A few months later, he was named Time Magazine MAN OF THE YEAR.

KIM SADI [00:27:22.16] (cont.) At the same time we had opposition. We knew we are playing with our life when we were going to some of those demonstrations.

From experts, hear of the military disputes with the Shah, the continued economic downturn in Iran, the stalemate with oil, and the questions of what lie ahead for Iran.

Transition to: Headline in Paper Questioning/Hating Mossadegh

(Rumi) I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons knocking on a door. It opens I’ve been knocking from the inside!

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ACT 2: CHAOS 11. CHAOS

VIDEO AUDIO BACK TO THE BOOK Kim Sadi reads a quote from Benjamin Franklin from his book of

quotes, first in Farsi then he translates [00:04:35]: “Poor people are fighting so hard to get rid of the hungriness and rich people are trying to fix their stomach.” Starts to chuckle, loves this quote. Laughing, but the mood is sober. [beat]


Mark Gasiorowsi talks about Iranian cultural familiarity with political instability––chaos which, historically, has led to a cultural desire for stability, often in the form of arbitrary rule. This long standing trend explains how Iranians were pro-Mossadegh, but wanted a more predictable form of government. This is why a faction of Iranians supported the Shah’s return to power.

Hooshang Niku Clip 3 [00:09:03.13]… the people were desperate too… at that time if you ask average person the---did, did they like Mosaddegh? They would say: well, yeah but we're tired. We want...bread, we want job, we want y'know something, y'know everyday life was miserable. [00:05:58.09]… the …average person was fed up.

VISUALS FOR BELOW: ILLUSTRATIONS FROM HAMID RAHMANIAN’S SHAHNAMEH,

IMAGERY FROM PERSEPOLIS, CUT TO PLAYFUL HOME ARCHIVAL

Narration on the Chaos of Shahnameh: Iranians are no strangers to Chaos. Chaos in Iran goes way back, from the (earlier war is) to the Arabs conquering in 500AD and bringing. But they’ve always been connected with their Iranian nationhood. And over 1,000 years ago a great poet, Ferdowsi, wrote Shahnameh – the Book of Kings, a voluminous book of prose that creates a myth-history of the birth of the Persian empire, and the kings that built it. It is the essence of Iranian nationhood. Their soul before Islam came to its many shores.

Mehrdad Kia[Clip 4–– 00:15:02] what Shanahmeh did, it moved Iranian history and national consciousness from just those who knew how to read into an aura of tradition. It popularized this history, it popularized these heroes. And it allowed Iranians to feel that they were a

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unique people.

IMAGERY FROM SHAHNAMEH, AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, TEA PARTY, PROTEST DURING MOSSADEGH’S ERA ARCHIVAL: 1952 riots & news clippings

Mark Gasiorowski talks about Iranian conception of “chaos” being synonymous with “democracy.” In the 20th century, periods of progressive reform (such as the constitutional revolution and Mossadegh’s rise to power) were followed by conservative and repressive, but stable, rule. Gasiorowski describes this pattern as an explanation of the support for a more predictable, known government. Scholars then tell us the story of the 1952 riots. The Shah and Mossadegh continued to have power struggles, which culminated over the appointment of a Minister of War and Chief of Staff in July, 1952. The Shah refused to allow Mossadegh to appoint, Mossadegh resigned in protest, so the Shah appointed a new Prime Minister, Ghavam Saltani. Riots for Mossadegh’s re-appointment commenced across Iran immediately. Over 250 people were killed. In the end, Mossadegh was re-appointed Prime Minister, but the factions against him increased.

ARCHIVAL Hooshang Niku: The fall of Mosaddegh was because… gradually Mosaddegh could not find any solution for the compromising the oil industry. .. [00:06:51.06] So he got to the point that he did everything internationally, domestically but he didn't get anywhere. And gradually what happened, Mosaddegh …—isolated himself to his bed, and to his bedroom.

IDIOSYNCRATIC VISUALS HERE, A MONTAGE OF SEEING EVERYONE IN HIS BEDROOM: AMBASSADORS, CABINET MEMBERS, HIS BELOVED GRANDDAUGHTER. THE VISUALS WILL ACCENTUATE HIS PHYSICAL FRAILTY ARCHIVAL Imagery of Allen W. Dulles (Head of CIA, 1953) and John Foster Dulles (Secretary of State, Eisenhower

Hooshang Niku: Clip 3 [00:13:00.11] So suddenly he become a dictator to himself. Everything he wanted to do he had to do by decree from his bedroom. Even this general, three times he went to Mosaddegh and said, "Dr. Mosaddegh you are, you don't know what the country is doing, you don't know what's going on. I want to resign because from your bedroom you cannot run the country.” And that's how Mosaddegh gradually failed.

Narr: After the 1952 riots, the religious, communist, and royalist communities of Iranian society started to turn on Mossadegh. The air was ripe for an anti-Mossadegh movement in Iran. The British schemed and, though Truman was still refusing to cooperate, other Americans in power began to gain interest in ousting Mossadegh, namely the Dulles brothers who would soon be running the CIA and serving Eisenhower as Secretary of State.

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Administration) US: IRAN DIFFERENCE IN VISUALS 1950S JUXTAPOSED

Rumi said constant slow movement teaches us to keep working, like a small creek that stays clear. That doesn’t stagnate, but finds a way through numerous details, deliberately. Deliberation is born of joy Like a bird from an egg Birds don’t resemble eggs! This how different the hatching out it A white leathery snake egg, a sparrow’s egg, a quince seed, an apple seed: very different things look similar at one stage. These leaves, our bodily personalities, seem identical But the globe of soul fruit We make Each is elaborately

Unique.

NARR: American poet and translator Coleman Barks said trying to imagine the Islamic world without Rumi is like trying to imagine the Western world without Shakespeare. He is the model of imaginative freedom and power. Rumi is an ecstatic voice steeped in wonder and possibility. This voice is what gave wonder to my father’s generation, and generations since.

America in the 1950s, the mass “poetry” —Dragnet, I Love Lucy, consumerism, women back in home BITE FROM I LOVE LUCY

Hear from Hafez Farmayan on being a student in America, others not understanding where he was from, anything about Iran. They only knew of I LOVE LUCY

Writing of Mossadegh. Sense of how he was formed, what drove his dogma. Poem from the time that illustrates the fight in the hearts of the Iranian people writing of Mossadegh.

SLOW MOTION PAN Pedestrians, then traffic, Tehran 2014 SLOW MOTION PAN Pedestrians, then traffic, an American city, 2014 Imagery that transcends “We

Sa’di: Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human you cannot retain.

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are all part of the human race.” ON CAMERA FADE TO BLACK

RETURN TO FATHER’S BOOK. Kim Sadi quotes Benjamin Franklin from his book of Poems: [00:28:20]. He reads, first in Farsi, then translates, “the person who has too much hope, and that is his way of thinking, may die from hunger…

12. OPERATION AJAX

INTERVIEWS TAKE US THROUGH THE Transition from Truman to Eisenhower. John Foster Dulles, Sec’y of State, quipped: “The United States of America doesn’t have friends; it has interests”

VISUAL ELEMENTS: U.S. AND IRANIAN ARCHIVAL, CIA/OPERATION AJAX PAPERS

From Mark Gasiorowski we hear about how a joint U.S.: British coup was conceived and mobilized, aptly named OPERATION AJAX, literally meaning to “clean out” Mossadegh from power. (VISUAL here, in keeping w/ setting up America)

ON Camera AJAX COMMERCIALS. ILLUSTRATE IN MOSSADEGH.

Gasiorowski explains that they named it after AJAX the cleaner. He continue to explain the blow-by-blow account of the CIA’s moves in deposing Mossadegh

SAME CALENDAR AS AT THE BEGINNING OF FILM GOES TO AUGUST 19TH, 1953

Sound effects, calendar ticking. [Beat.] Audio crescendo.


HN Clip 3[00:14:24.16] The coup … was … Bisthasht de Mordad yes. … it was summertime I went with a friend of mine to go out and have something for lunch. And we saw …(a) couple army trucks with labor(er?)s and average person on top of this truck and saying, " Javid Shah, Javid Shah..." This, long, long live Shah. And we were surprised, that, Shah is already fled. They use the same, "Long live Mosaddegh," What's going on? We were laughing. And suddenly when after I had lunch, I was coming home, … [00:15:11.13] I saw them, sound of machine guns, and I was curious so I went to Mosaddegh house which was very close to my house. And suddenly I saw that the army tanks and army trucks with the soldiers on the street. And when I get to Mosaddegh house I saw the people are looting his house. Taking furniture out of his house. …he was the hero a couple months ago. And now the people are looting his house. So I was so upset at that time

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[Beat] VISUAL: CIA/OPERATION AJAX PAPERS; INTERVIEWS, ANIMATION/RE-CREATIONS OF ELEMENTS OF THE TIME; HOME MOVIES.

In tandem, we will hear the unfolding of the CIA coup and the experiences on the ground when this coup took place. Through testimony and memory, we recount the days leading up to August 19, 1953 and the aftermath. My father’s story continues to be involved in the struggle until he packs up for, of all places, the U.S.A.

WIDE THEN TIGHT SHOTS: A TANK, STYLIZED ARCHIVAL

OUTSIDE OF MOSSADEGH’S HOME

Rumi: Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to Don’t try to see through the distances That’s not for human beings Move within, but don’t move the way fear makes you move. Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.


Kim Sadi [00:29:20.27] Oh it was like losing a member of the family. Overthrown was the filthiest group of people they were paid to do it…. They took his house and took it apart. We always knew there is some foreign element is doing it. We knew a real Iranian wouldn't do that.

ACT 3: AFTERMATH

13. AFTERMATH

A MONTAGE OF MOSSADEGH. A moment of the Shah. BACK to MOSSADEGH

Mehrdad Kia[Clip 2 ––00:04:05] after the overthrow and especially I think in 1960s after his death he became something of a mythological figure, for lack of better word, he became a myth, he became a sort of epic, almost. And I

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think Iranians, like some other cultures, they adore and they respect those who go down fighting for a cause. [Beat.] Mehrdad Kia[Clip 2– 00:04:50]I have come to sort of realize that in Iranian culture, sometimes we actually respect those who go down as martyrs, as defeated martyrs, more than those who have achieved things. And unfortunately in the case of Mossadegh, Mossadegh achieved something by nationalizing the Iranian oil industry but he really did not last enough in power to actually turn Iran into the society that he and his colleagues were hoping to.

ARCHIVAL, SLOW MOTION AND TIGHTS, MORE STYLED AND MEMORY-LIKE

KIM SADI[00:09:11.20] ….Mossadegh was too intelligent to try to get revenge from the people are doing the wrong thing. But [00:08:24.05]… after Mossadegh, we were underground, we were fighting against the evil power that was destroying Mossadegh … America invested money and destroyed a good government in Iran, their motivation was only to protect American oil cartels and trust. Western(er?)s are too powerful and too ignorant to understand the real meaning of the democracy. And they interrupt them, it's happening all over the world… Unfortunately, many countries they have no chance to survive. As long as the monetary powers takes over the intellectual power. Unfortunately, this thing is not that simple to overcome.

Mark Gasiorowski notes that some did believe the claims that there was a communist threat. Mossadegh was old, and weak. If he collapsed by other powers that be, the thought was his successor could be unfriendly to the West.

IMAGERY IRAN 1953. 1954. 1955. Family movies archival

Kim Sadi[00:31:05.15]…There's a joke they say, if you can't beat them join them. [00:31:11.29]… Definitely I needed another fresh idea. (and thought) the schooling in United States could be a best teacher, to directly, to that direction. But at the same time I always thought I was gonna go back Narration: When my father came to the U.S., he abandoned politics and focused on capitalism. He fashioned his own singular world in the suburbs of Chicago. Today, he defines himself as artist, salesman, and entrepreneur, but, back in Iran, he defined himself as

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a Mossadeghi. My parents, like many Iranians in the U.S. at the time, dressed in trendy Western clothes, moved to the suburbs, and decided it would be best for their children to speak only English. When we were young, the music of Farsi was heard only behind closed doors.

FAMILY VIDEOS AND ARCHIVAL 1950S IRAN

Musical interlude, beat

ARCHIVAL: FUN HOME MOVIES OF IRANIAN AMERICANA – TRIPS TO DISNEYLAND WHERE WE ALL HUGGED MICKEY MOUSE, SPORTS EVENTS, RIDING HORSES, LAUGHING, DRINKING, BEING HAPPY, SUBURBAN AND FREE.

NARRATION: Growing up in America, we had the quintessential American life. My father worked tirelessly as a self-employed designer trying to build an empire. As a practical business move, he changed his name from Kamal (which people consistently pronounced “camel”) to Kim. Like many secular Iranians, he loved to gamble, so we would Christmas in Vegas and frequent the Playboy Club in Wisconsin. At the many gatherings we attended in our small Iranian-American community in Chicago, I often spotted my father in a corner leading a heated political discussion declaring “the Shah is the puppet of the CIA.” I grew up with this phrase, along with “liberty and justice for all,” not quite understanding what either meant. Kim Sadi[00:32:14.28] Because there is no other country interfering in our internal affair (IN THE U.S.), success or failure in this country is only our fault. …But in the other countries … if the government (IS) controlled by another power outside you really are not the master of your destiny. [00:34:00.21]…. I have seen many of my friend here, they went to Iran and came back because all of the injustice over there that prevent them to get anywhere. If you're trying to form a, a family, you're obligated to stay in the area that you have a best chance to have a successful family. [00:34:52.03] …when you are part of the family you don't think of yourself alone. [00:33:11.02] this is a goal of any parent. Narr: My father gets his strength from the political days of 50s. But There is a fine line between who we want to be and who we are. Many involved stayed after the coup, and Iran became ever MORE politicized and radicalized… Mossadegh had represented the center in a polarized political climate. The people needed a leader, and hoped for moderation, but that hope was lost with Mossadegh…..

•Simin Behbahani, from “A Man with a Missing Leg:”

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VISUALS – TIGHT, ETHEREAL

My tender smiles turned to thorns and daggers in his eyes. Used to rough treatment, he has no appetite for tenderness. Lines of bitterness mark his cold, parched face.

ARCHIVAL IMAGERY TO MATCH, AND ON CAMERA

Mehrdad Kia[Clip 3–– 00:02:13] what really … in 1953… is that the center of Iranian politics was smashed and Iranians were forced to go and search, seek, for alternatives into a more alternative, more radical sort of fashion. Of course there was a rise of a new left in Iran, that is, the younger generation split from the old Tudeh communist party and used Fidel Castro, used Che Guevara, used Ho Chi Min as models for a new sort of revolutionary armed left. So, the organization of the peoples, the fedayin, the Guerillas, the OIPFG, the organization of Iranian peoples Mu ja ha din, these all came about in ’60s and early ’70s as a result of the split. So that was the radicalization on the left. On the other hand, the, the religious establishment, though Shah tried to sort of keep them on his side, thanks to his own reforms, uh they were also alienated from the Shah. And through Ayatollah Khomeini, they sort of went in the direction of a more political Islam. Which called for the establishment of an Islamic theocracy in place of the existing monarchy.

SETTING UP 1979: ARCHIVAL, IRAN IN THE 1970S. GARISH WEALTH DISPLAYED BY THE SHAH.

Kim Sadi [00:09:11.20] …the Shah…was puppet of the CIA [00:06:12.11] (on helping the Ayatollah) …And many of us we helped this guy, the religion in the beginning. Because they promised us they are gonna let the true democracy take over. But unfortunately power is something that people don't want to lose. Same as anyone in materialistic world. Mossadegh was a phenomenon.

Sa’di:

An end comes to the proud oppressor’s state, But no end to the people’s curse and hate.

Music, archival street sounds

Interstitial with rubble all over the streets of Iran. Out of the rubble we identify lines of a puppet. Out comes the Shah w/ a sign on himself that says “puppet of the CIA.”

Mehrdad Kia[Clip 3––00:01:17] I think that the overthrow of Mossadegh …created a crisis of legitimacy for the Shah, a king who was perceived to have been brought back by a foreign powers, by U.S. oil companies and the British Petroleum as well as the CIA and MI6, had a hard time regaining his popularity and legitimacy in 1960s despite his

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best efforts by introducing the so called white revolution, series of social and economic reforms.

ARCHIVAL Narration: In response to the Shah’s reforms, a new generation of

activists were born, yearning for a new hero, a new Mossadegh… and in the process of hoping and fighting for a new future, unbeknownst to many, they helped in realizing a fundamental Islamic state.

ANTI-SHAH IMAGERY, IRAN 1970S

Sa’di, from the Gulistan: As his own life a King his men should cherish Without them power departs and kingdoms perish… Tyrants their lordship cannot keep, Nor wolves be shepherds to the sheep; Who rules by tyranny makes fall The footstones of his kingdom’s wall. Make clear here that the Shah has left the country. Interviews on the Shah searching for a country to go to. Elation in the streets of Tehran.

IMAGES OF IRAN IN 1979 BEFORE THE HOSTAGE CRISIS, THEN AFTER THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT BEGAN

Narration: The world doesn’t remember that in Iran when the Shah left, Iranians experienced 6 months of euphoric hope for a new democracy. Those who were elated that the oppressive Shah had left, had no idea of the oppression that would follow.

ON CAMERA & ARCHIVAL Mehrdad Kia: ...the religious right, went more to the right, the kind of a democratic left went to the extreme left… and what was missing was the center of Iranian politics. .. And unfortunately by the time the revolution came, the center of Iranian politics lacked the charismatic leadership of a Mossadegh to really glue this opposition together. The charisma was on the side of the religious–uh–groups, and Ayatollah Khomeini seized the leadership of the revolution”

IMAGERY OF THE MASSES KIM SADI(c. 00:10:00)…we saw what happened after these

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IN 1979 ON THE STREETs of TEHRAN

clergies took over. And what they did to American Ambassadors all of those people. Um, they were trying to get even with the system that for so many years was a cause of all of the, uh, suffering.

IMAGERY FROM THE ISLAMIC LEADERSHIP, 1979, 1980

Interview here on the shift of power to the Islamic clergy (how that happened) and then what happened through the 1980s: the oppression and the Iran: Iraq War with Iraq backed by the U.S.

ARCHIVAL, SHAH’S REIGN

Through interview hear how in the 50s, 60s, 70s Shah became more politically censored, the young became more frustrated and more in need of a hero. With direct CIA support, to ensure political repression, the Shah formed SAVAK, Iran’s intelligence service known as the secret police.

MONTAGE INTERLUDE: DEVASTATION IN IRAN 1980S. ANTI-IRANIAN SENTIMENTS IN THE U.S.

Narration: Our innocence leaves us in many ways. For me it was after 1979, when the question of where I was “from” started to be asked more frequently and with more judgment. “I’m from here” wasn’t an accepted answer.

Mehrdad Kia[Clip 6––00:07:01] for many years, when I was studying here, you know when they would say, “Who are you? Where are you from?” I never thought of myself as anything but Mehrdad Kia, you know (a little chuckle), that’s who I am. Mehrdad Kia[Clip 6––00:07:57] After the Islamic revolution of ‘79 and after the hostage crisis and all that, the question was always, “Are you a Muslim?” You know, “Are you a practicing Muslim?” and all that. And it forces you actually to think about who you are, in terms of what your attitude toward Islam is. It is very interesting, I never thought about my attitude toward Islam as anything but respectful. As my attitude has been toward Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, the Ba’ai faith, or anything else. And it sort of forces you to think, “Am I a Muslim? Am I not a Muslim?” So regardless though, regardless of what we think we are, as human beings we are responsible to stand for the right of all groups, religious, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, to exercise their rights free of persecution.

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ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT VISUALS IN THE U.S. 1980s

•Esmail Khoi, “Outlandia:” I look around me and I see that no human edifice standing in Outlandia holds a mark from me. And thus I decree: nothing here belongs to me.

14. REFLECTION

ARCHIVAL: NIGHTLINE 1/20/81 AND THE HOSTAGES BACK ON AMERICAN SOIL Ripple effect imagery here

Play ABC’s Nightline from January 20, 1981. Ted Koppel announcing that the hostages are coming home. Narr: What absolute joy and relief we had when the American hostages were returned, unharmed. Little did any of us know what the future would bring. Now, 35 years later, the crisis seems relatively amateur. So much has changed in the world of terrorism. Politically, for Iranians, the end of the hostage crisis was just the beginning of their international condemnation.

Mehrdad Kia[Clip 2–– 00:06:55] “I have been told that Iranians are just in love with conspiracy theories and so on and so forth I think a culture which is fascinated with conspiracy theories, is fascinated with conspiracy theories because it has seen some major interferences or interventions on behalf of foreign powers and it feels that it does not run its own history and its own country.”

Narration: From 1953 to 1978, many Iranians would view the Shah’s every action suspiciously. After the revolution, these same Iranians would enter politics, and their suspicions would alter policy.

Kim Sadi bite ...[00:06:38.27] That's one of the reason

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today. Even though (Iranians) like American people, American life…they're scared of again having a power like the CIA take over. Sometime they're willing to put up with those crazy religious guys that their ideas are 100 years behind our time. Rather than being a puppet.

MEHRDAD IV on camera “I think in some ways, the tragedy of Iran is the society

never had a chance to discuss its alternatives because it never had the freedom to discuss what Khomeinei stands for, what the left stands for, the discussions were all in hiding and in concealment and there was so much censorship and repression that you have to whisper the name of Mossadegh.”

Archival of President Carter w/ Shah and others affiliated with story.

Narr: Years later when asked to comment on America’s role in the coup, President Jimmy Carter would reply: “That’s ancient history.”

Persepolis? Maybe. Cyrus the Great? Maybe. But 1979, definitely not ancient history. It’s undeniably connected to the history we are making right now. To understand Iran, we must understand that for Iranians, this event happened yesterday. It matters. And it’s still a part of what America means to Iran.

ON CAMERA & CONTEMPORARY

Mehrdad Kia: “So it is a message to all those who think they can rewrite history that it doesn’t matter how much you try to control it or revise it. History has its own way of coming back and laughing at you. And it will come out in funny ways. And I think Mossadegh sort of was believed to have been forgotten but he was never forgotten. I think a man like Mossadegh who had a special place in the hearts and minds of Iranians will always remain there.”

ON CAMERA & CONTEMPORARY

HN [00:10:40.29] … I'm worried about the United States. Because Americans here, because they are not politically educated. They are isolated. They still think that they are the best country in the world. HN clip 4[00:12:05.03] You have political freedom but people …prefer to watch the—football game. Kim Sadi[00:35:55.29] I wish American were more informed about the truth… We are free to talk, … But… we are not feeding all the truths to people.

IMAGERY MIXED WITH

•Sa’di:

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ARCHIVAL When work moves well, the less that’s said Is so much gain—I bide my time; But if I see the blind man led Straight to the pit, silence were crime.

MONTAGE VISUALS OF 1979, 1980 WITH RUMI POEM BELOW. BLIPS OF NIGHTLINE. ANTI-IRANIAN PROTESTS AND SIGNAGE. TED KOPPEL TALKING. IMAGES OF THE HOSTAGE. OF THE IRANIAN STUDENTS. OF ANGRY AMERICANS

Tonal shift: Music a la: De Usuahia a la Quiaca by Gustavo Santaolalla As soon as both of them had realized the sin and viciousness of worldly creatures, In fury they began to gnaw their hands. They did not see their faults with their own eyes. The ugly see themselves caught in the mirror and turn their face away from it in anger.

[BEAT.] Narration: Today, there are almost a million Iranians in the Los Angeles area. They have remade parts of the Iran lost over the last 60 years. Iran-U.S. relations remain precarious and threatening. The Middle East, on the cusp of hope, is also in shambles. And in the midst of this political unease and rampant Islamophobia, Rumi and Hafez are the two best-selling poets in America today.

IMAGERY MIXED WITH ARCHIVAL, THEN CONTEMPORARY

•Nader Naderpur, “A Spring Tale:” I said to myself, Well, man without a country! Why have you turned away from the world? What good did you gain in your own land that you long for it so?

HN Clip 4[00:19:26.11] I think that future of Iran is definitely bright because the young generation, especially women are the one are going to change the destiny of Iranian people. HN Clip 4 [00:20:32.07]… Iranians are so flexible... No nation in the world has survived like Iranians in the 3,000 years of

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history. We had invasion … From Ottoman, from … Mongols, … Alexander...Arabs, but we have survive. [00:21:15.28… (on the current regime, need visuals) We are going to survive but it takes time.

MOSSADEGH Mehrdad Kia[Clip 7––00:08:52] He is the heart of Iran’s History, at least for several years in the middle of the 20th century, and his role will be recognized one day when we can talk about our own history in a more open and public and analytical fashion.

KIM SADI looking at his book. MONTAGE OF IMAGES, 1950s & Today Iran U.S.

Narration: I think my dad holds onto himself through this book. He’s turned to it for over 60 years to visit himself, his past. Mossadegh is myth now. But he’s one of the myths that we hold onto, the Iranian Diaspora, to make sense of it all. Growing up during the hostage crisis, ironically being terrorized by fellow American kids, I lost that pride; that vague, childlike pride of being from somewhere special. But, we have to remember. Iran is some place special. Steeped in history, in culture, in a past much deeper than 1953 or 1979. It is a place of stories, of poetry, of inspiration. The memory is just poetry to me, just a myth. I am not from there. But I realize even to those who’ve left, their memory has become just that. Poetry.

MONTAGE IMAGERY

End with Rumi : We can’t help being thirsty Moving toward the voice Of water. Milk drinker draw close To the mother. Muslims, Christians, Jews. Buddhists, Hindus, shamans, Everyone hears the intelligent sound And moves, with thirst, to meet it. Clean your ears. Don’t listen For something you’ve heard before. Slight footfalls in sand. Almost in sight! The first word they call out Will be the last word of our last poem

END

mossadegh & me (working title) script · 2013-10-02 · ! 1! mossadegh & me (working title)...

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