FROM BAKU TO BELMONT
50 min, 2013/2015, HD, Portrait Documentary
A seemingly ordinary visit with Mr. Khaze, a hospitable elderly Iranian Baha’i living in Belmont, becomes a gripping journey through his vivid memories and visceral stories. Mr. Khaze calmly prepares lunch and serves tea, while his storytelling compels the audience to become a witness to exile, persecution, revolution, and murder; interweaving past and present.
2 min excerpt:
This documentary is part of an ongoing Multimedia project "Marginalia".
MARGINALIA 2012 - PRESENT
A series of portrait documentary feature films, audio recordings, photos, personal belongings, and an online database.
The title of this project, Marginalia, refers to the personal side notes added to the established content of a book. Likewise, this project intends to collect personal histories of marginalized groups to bring their invisible stories and histories to the foreground.
Each documentary film is created as an invitation into the intimate space of one character’s home and his or her life-story. Through this close connection with the viewer, a window opens up to the history that each character has lived and its influence on the events happening now. The past informs the present as these stories unfold.