Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Our guide Seyed was expected to follow our camera at all times. Hang on tight and fol-
low that taxi!
While this sounds constraining, Seyed proved to be a big help to our production.
Whenever we filmed a place of commercial or religious importance, a plainclothes se-
curity guard would appear. Then we'd wait around while Seyed explained who we were
and what we were doing. No single authority was in charge—many arms of government
overlapped and made rules that conflicted with each other. Seyed made our filming pos-
sible…or told us when it wasn't.
Permission to film somewhere was limited to a specific time window. Even if we were
allowed to film a certain building on a given day, it didn't mean we could shoot it on a
different day, or from the balcony of an adjacent tea house (where we didn't have permis-
sion), or from an angle, for instance, that showed a bank (since banks cannot be filmed).
