Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
As the pilot began our descent, rich and elegant Persian women put on their scarves
as routinely as buckling their seatbelts. With all that hair suddenly covered, I noticed how
striking long hair can be—how it really does grab a man's attention. Looking out the win-
dow into the night, the lights of Tehran's millions of inhabitants seemed to stretch forever.
Greater Tehran has more people than all of Greece (where I had woken up that morning).
I thought of the unlikely path that had led me to this point. The permissions had
been so slow in coming that the project only became a certainty about a week before
the shoot. Because the US does not maintain a diplomatic relationship with Iran, the
only way we could communicate was indirectly, via the Iranian Interest Section at the
Pakistani Embassy. It was strange to go into a relaxed, almost no-security Iranian Embassy
in Athens…and walk out with visas.
Why was Iran letting us in? They actually want to boost Western tourism. I would
think this might frighten the Iranian government, since tourists could bring in unwanted
ideas (like those that prompted the USSR to restrict tourism). But Iran wants more visitors
nonetheless. They also believe that the Western media have made their culture look men-
acing, and never show its warm, human, and gracious side. They did lots of background
research on me and my work, and apparently concluded that my motives were acceptable.
They said that, while they'd had problems with other American network crews, they'd had
good experiences with PBS film crews.
Not that we were planning to glorify Iran. While I was excited to learn about the rich
tapestry of Iranian culture and history, I also recognized that I couldn't ignore some of
the fundamental cultural differences. I felt a responsibility to show the reality that women
face in Iran, and to try to understand why Iranians always seem to be chanting “Death to
America.” We wanted to be free-spirited and probing, but not abuse the trust of the Iranian
government.
