SALON UNDERGROUND

In the organizer's words:

Parviz Sayyad is a guest at Salon Underground at Karlstorbahnhof. There will be a reading and a panel discussion with Sayyad and other participants, including Jasmin Tabatabai and Niloufar Taghizadeh, moderated by Frederic Ulferts. Sayyad will read passages from his books, in which he discusses his experiences with censorship and the influence of the dictatorial regime on the film world. The award-winning film "The Mission" by Parviz Sayyad will also be shown.

Parviz Sayyad is an Iranian acting and directing legend and is loved by his audience for his steadfastness against the Islamic Republic.

When the Islamic Revolution hit Iran in 1979, he was the country's most successful film director and one of the first to refuse to continue working under the new regime. Not because he had to, but because he didn't want to. The price: a 47-year ban on working in his home country. Despite everything, he did not give up. In 1983, he won the main jury prize in Locarno with "The Mission", and the film was also celebrated at the Berlinale in the same year. Sayyad now lives in the USA and continues to campaign strongly against the Islamic Republic. His films often show reality so far in advance that they anticipate social and political developments - as early as the 1980s, he was able to recognize these profound connections and present them in a way that still shocks today and encourages us to reflect on the dynamics of society.