The Tehran Trilogy, by Solmaz Shahbazi

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Solmaz Shahbazi's trilogy explores the recent historical, social and urban trajectory of the Iranian capital, a city that has experienced several revolutions in the 20th century and counts over 12 million inhabitants today. Tehran 1380 (45min, 2002) is the result of a collaboration between Solmaz Shahbazi and Tirdad Zolghadr. Through interviews with permanent inhabitants and visitors, professionals of architecture and non-professionals, juxtaposed with images from Tehran, Shahbazi and Zolghadr ask pertinent questions about the place of the city in the process of globalisation, and carve out a portrait of Tehran as a socially heterogeneous, ever expanding metropolis that does not fit into any existing urban planning or aesthetic standards. Good Times / Bad Times (31 min, 2003). With over 70% of the population aged under 25, Iranian youth culture is an incredible transformative power that shapes the country's social, economical and political trajectories. Good Times / Bad Times follows five young people, each as a representative of a certain group in the Iranian society. The documentary looks at some of the strictures confronting Iranian youth and examines the practices of everyday life through which young people demonstrate defiance against the official culture and parental dominance. Persepolis (2005, 17min), the last video of the trilogy, is as much a tale about Tehran as it is about how individuals situate themselves in relation to the grander narratives of history. Set in a large scale, bourgeois housing complex in Tehran, the video explores a layered history through composed interior shots, played back against the voice of their owners, as they recount their lives in this neighbourhood and its place in the city's recent evolution, often referring to before" and "after" the Islamic Revolution of 1979.