Presented By: Department of Middle East Studies
Film Screening: The Dawn Is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life
Followed by a Q&A with Persis Karim, co-director of the film
Join us for a screening of The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life (2024, dir. Persis Karim and Soumyaa Behrens, 55 min.), followed by a conversation and A
session with the co-director, Persis Karim! This event is free and open to the public.
About the film: The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life poetically narrates the story of a community of Iranian Americans who have made the San Francisco Bay Area their home over the past five decades. The film seeks to expand our understanding of Iranian immigration — what it means to leave home and country, and to live through the episodes of turbulent histories of dissent, revolution, war, and separation — and reinvent oneself in a new place, country, and culture. The Dawn is Too Far does not paint a story of salvation and happy assimilation but rather seeks to identify the complex ways that members of the Bay Area's Iranian diaspora community have navigated the challenges and traumas of history to reinvent themselves and tell their own stories. These as yet untold stories build on a longer history of Iranian immigration to Northern California, where Iranians as students, activists, artists, draw on as well as influence the larger culture of the Bay Area. This community, and all that it has faced, offers a more nuanced story of the Iranian diaspora, the ways that this community enriches and enlivens the region where they live, work, and build families and community. The Dawn is Too Far undermines the tired and overplayed news headlines that are dominated by narratives of enmity and mistrust between the government of Iran and the U.S. to offer a more humane understanding of how people's lives and the sacrifices they make are part of the larger story of immigration.
About the speaker: Persis Karim is the director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University, where she also teaches in the Department of
Humanities and Comparative and World Literature. She is the editor of three anthologies of Iranian diaspora literature and has published numerous articles about
Iranian diaspora literature and culture for academic journals, as well as poetry and essays in non-academic publications. The Dawn is Too Far is her first film and reflects
her interest in documenting and sharing the larger history and personal stories of those who are part of the global Iranian diaspora.
This event was made possible with the generous help of Middle East Studies (U-M, Dearborn), Middle East Studies (U-M, Ann Arbor), the Center for Arab American Studies
(U-M, Dearborn), the Honors Program at U-M Dearborn, the Residential College at U-M Ann Arbor, and the Iranian Studies Program at U-M Ann Arbor.
session with the co-director, Persis Karim! This event is free and open to the public.
About the film: The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life poetically narrates the story of a community of Iranian Americans who have made the San Francisco Bay Area their home over the past five decades. The film seeks to expand our understanding of Iranian immigration — what it means to leave home and country, and to live through the episodes of turbulent histories of dissent, revolution, war, and separation — and reinvent oneself in a new place, country, and culture. The Dawn is Too Far does not paint a story of salvation and happy assimilation but rather seeks to identify the complex ways that members of the Bay Area's Iranian diaspora community have navigated the challenges and traumas of history to reinvent themselves and tell their own stories. These as yet untold stories build on a longer history of Iranian immigration to Northern California, where Iranians as students, activists, artists, draw on as well as influence the larger culture of the Bay Area. This community, and all that it has faced, offers a more nuanced story of the Iranian diaspora, the ways that this community enriches and enlivens the region where they live, work, and build families and community. The Dawn is Too Far undermines the tired and overplayed news headlines that are dominated by narratives of enmity and mistrust between the government of Iran and the U.S. to offer a more humane understanding of how people's lives and the sacrifices they make are part of the larger story of immigration.
About the speaker: Persis Karim is the director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University, where she also teaches in the Department of
Humanities and Comparative and World Literature. She is the editor of three anthologies of Iranian diaspora literature and has published numerous articles about
Iranian diaspora literature and culture for academic journals, as well as poetry and essays in non-academic publications. The Dawn is Too Far is her first film and reflects
her interest in documenting and sharing the larger history and personal stories of those who are part of the global Iranian diaspora.
This event was made possible with the generous help of Middle East Studies (U-M, Dearborn), Middle East Studies (U-M, Ann Arbor), the Center for Arab American Studies
(U-M, Dearborn), the Honors Program at U-M Dearborn, the Residential College at U-M Ann Arbor, and the Iranian Studies Program at U-M Ann Arbor.
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