Director: Cambiz Amir-Khosravi [in person], 2018, USA, 76 minutes, Cast: Stephen Kinzer, Elizabeth Simonson, Ervand Abrahamian, Shirin Khosravi, Farideh Faily, Mohammad Majd
How would you feel if you suddenly learned your father’s real identity; a past hidden from you for over 60 years? In 2011, Iranian-American filmmaker Cambiz Amir-Khosravi discovered the truth about his father’s horrendous role in the history of modern Iran. For the first time in his life all that seemed fact appeared to be fiction. What was certain to him was as a boy of nine he was an eyewitness to the 1953 coup engineered by the CIA and British intelligence to safeguard their oil interests and to consolidate the shah’s rule. That abruptly ended with the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This coup not only forged Iran’s destiny but also clarified his view of the tangled bond between Iran and the US. As a documentary filmmaker for most of his adult life, Inheritance is, quite literally, the film he was born to make.
Screening with: Cypher & Lion (Noghteh Va Shir)