Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tehran's millions of inhabitants seemed to stretch forever. Greater Tehran
has more people than all of Greece (where I woke up that morning).
I thought of the unlikely path that had led me to this point. h e 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? h ey actually want to boost Western tour-
ism. 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. h ey also believe that
the Western media have made their culture look menacing, and never show
its warm, human, and gracious side. h ey did lots of background research
on me and my work, and apparently concluded that my motives were accept-
able. h ey said that, while they'd had problems with other American network
crews, they'd had good experiences with PBS i lm 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
dif erences. I felt a respon-
sibility to show the reality
women face in Iran, and
to try to understand why
Iranians always seem to be
chanting “Death to Amer-
ica.” We wanted to be free-
spirited and probing, but
not abuse the trust of the
Iranian government.
Our “welcome” included
building-sized anti-US
murals showing American
fl ags with stars of skulls and
dropping bombs painting
the stripes.
