The Queen and I
International Showcase
(Sweden, 2008, 90 mins)
In Farsi and Swedish with English subtitles
Directed By: Nahid Persson Sarvestani
Producer: Nahid Persson Sarvestani
Screenwriters: Zinat S. Lloyd, Nahid Persson Sarvestani
Cinematographer: Nicklas Karpaty
Editor: Zinat S. Lloyd
Music: Mirage
Thirty years after the Iranian revolution, two exiles from opposite sides of the divide face off on screen. The “Queen” of the title is 70-year-old Empress Farah Diba, second wife of Shah Reza Pahlavi, an icon with considerable charm. “I” refers to filmmaker Nahid Persson Sarvestani, who, as a teenager, joined the Communist faction of Khomeini supporters who deposed the shah. This fascinating encounter of two women with clashing political visions serves as a primer for problems that every documentary-maker contends with. How far do you let your subjects impose their will on you? And to what extent do you comply with the image people want to create of themselves?
Fearing that Queen Farah will refuse further cooperation, Nahid finds herself unable to ask truly confrontational questions about the shah's regime. Frustrated by the layers of bureaucracy shielding her subject, annoyed with her own timidity, and conflicted about her growing affection for a woman whose husband she so vehemently opposed, Sarvestani Nahid cleverly structures the picture to include the filmmaking process as well as her own doubts and fears.
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(Netherlands , 2008, 84mins)
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