Montreal, March 17, 2019 - A documentary film of 37 minutes, “Years of Fear” was screened at the DeSève Cinema of Concordia University in presence of over 120 spectators from all over Montreal area.
The above-mentioned documentary has been shown in Toronto Diaspora Film Festival, Los Angles and London. It has been a subject of panel discussions in VOA and BBC London (Persian Programs).
Writer, director and producer, Amin Zargham has a long list of documentary films in his credit. This film is his personal experience during 1978 following early revolution years in Iran. This narrative could have also been the voice of millions of human beings who go through persecutions and injustices on this planet every single minute; their voices are silenced; their story has never been heard.
The history of persecution of minorities and underprivileged goes perhaps as far back as the life of humanity on this earth! This present screening was a part of series presentations made at Concordia University concerning Human Rights issues sponsored by various organizations including the Bahá’í Community of Montreal. Documentary films such as “The Gardner” by Makhmalbaf, “Education under Fire” from Amnesty International, “To Light a Candle” by Maziar Behari and “Táhirih, the poetess of Qazvin” by Shabnam Toloui. All presentations were widely covered by Persian Media and News Agencies in Montreal and elsewhere.
The focus of all presentations has been to raise consciousness, that humanity is one and that the differences of colour, race, social status and ethnicity are circumstantial and not fundamental. That every single human being must have the same rights and privileges in the society to grow to the maximum of his or her potential. Simple, perhaps, to understand and complex to apply!
The film, "Years of Fear" is a narrative of personal life events of an Iranian Bahá'í citizen, unfolding a relatively unknown drama of fear in everyday life of almost half a million inhabitants of that country, the largest religious minority undergoing severe persecutions for last 176 years!
The screening followed by enthusiastic applause and warm welcome from the people present in the theatre which included members of the Persian press, university teachers and students. Many questions were asked from the film director, Amin Zargham which reflected the deep impression the narrative left of the mind of everyone present in the theatre. The narration of the film was in Persian with English subtitles.
Amin Zargham completed his education in filmmaking at The School of Television and Cinema in Tehran and in Film Studies at Concordia University in Montreal.
He worked for almost a decade, at the Iranian National Television, as an assistant to the late Film director and poet Fereydoun Rahnema, on his latest work, "The son of Iran is heedless of his mother”, collaborated with Parviz Kimiavi on "Stone Garden" and worked on a TV series entitled "Hands and Designs" with Shokrullah Manzour for the Iranian Heritage Department of the National Iranian Television.
From 1998 to 2008 he collaborated with the BBC Persian Chanel and produced a series of cultural and artistic programs entitled "This Week From New York" and "Cultural Magazine". He also produced two films entitled "Lines of Imagination” exploring the life and art of Hushang Seyhoun, the well-known Iranian architect and another ‘’fromShahyad to Freedom", exploring art and creativity of another Iranian architect, Hossein Amanat. Both documentaries were presented on a TV program called “Tamasha” for the same network.
Amin Zargham is currently the editor of Aasoo, an online Persian web magazine.