‘Arusi Persian Wedding’ on ‘Global Voices’ and Online, Starting 7/22

“I think the really important part of this trip,” says Heather Tehrani, “is for Alex’s dad to have completion of our wedding.” Just so, the couple — both born in the US — plan to travel from New York City, where they live, to Iran, where they mean to have a second, Muslim, wedding ceremony. The trip will be complicated, as travel between the US and Iran has been for decades, and their parents — in particular their fathers — are not inclined to support it. The complications are documented in Arusi Persian Wedding, a film by Alex’s sister Marjan Tehrani available on Global Voices and online Global Voices beginning on 22 July. While the wedding provides compelling visuals and some minor melodrama (concerning Heather’s decision to convert, on paper, to Islam from her vague Christianity, as well as her dress, as the one she brings along from the States must be replaced, according to her new relatives and family friends), the film is most interesting as it integrates its personal stories within a broad historical context.

See PopMatters‘s review.