Harif, The Sephardi Centre and Spiro Ark

Date: Tuesday 19 June 2007

Time: 7.30 for 8pm

Venue: The Sephardi Centre – 2 Ashworth Road, W9

Price: £7

A rare glimpse into the lives of some of the 25,000 Jews still living in Iran, followed by a discussion.

Ramin Farahani, a young Iranian-Muslim filmmaker, made this 52-minute documentary, broadcast on Dutch National Television in 2005. It is the first full-length film about the 2,700-year old Jewish community and gives a remarkable insight into the official discrimination suffered by the Jews under the Islamic regime.

In Tehran, a young Iranian Jewish girl talks about her difficult decision to leave Iran. The film examines the bitter-sweet relationships this girl has with her classmates and teachers. She also speaks about the tremendous sense of loss and grief she will feel after leaving Tehran: “I’ll miss everything, even the bumps and holes on the streets.”

Ramin Farahani is an independent filmmaker based in Iran and Holland. He studied at the University in Tehran and at the Dutch Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam. “Jews of Iran” has been shown at the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival 2005, the New Zealand International Documentary Festival 2005 and the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2006, among others.