Born.In.Evin.2019.720p.AMZN.WEBRip.800MB.x264-GalaxyRG_Subtitles01.ENG Movie Subtitles

1 00:00:17,788 --> 00:00:22,021 ("Faith Hymn" by Beautiful Chorus) 2 00:00:34,988 --> 00:00:37,321 - A legend in the Talmud says 3 00:00:37,321 --> 00:00:41,654 that when a child is born, it carries a candle over its head 4 00:00:41,654 --> 00:00:44,421 as a symbol that it knows everything. 5 00:00:46,088 --> 00:00:48,021 In the moment of its birth, 6 00:00:48,021 --> 00:00:49,921 an angel blows the candle out 7 00:00:50,888 --> 00:00:52,654 and the child forgets it all. 8 00:00:53,754 --> 00:00:55,721 During the path of its life 9 00:00:55,721 --> 00:00:59,121 it must learn to remember everything it had forgotten. 10 00:01:00,254 --> 00:01:04,088 (speaking in foreign language) 11 00:01:34,754 --> 00:01:38,688 ("Learning" By Perfume Genius) 12 00:01:39,754 --> 00:01:40,588 - Mommy. 13 00:01:47,821 --> 00:01:48,788 It was 1991. 14 00:01:50,288 --> 00:01:52,754 My mom Nargess was 26 years old, 15 00:01:52,754 --> 00:01:55,188 and she was living alone with me in Germany. 16 00:01:58,421 --> 00:01:59,354 Momma. 17 00:01:59,354 --> 00:02:00,888 I also had a father, 18 00:02:00,888 --> 00:02:03,554 but he couldn't be with us for some reason, 19 00:02:03,554 --> 00:02:06,788 that's why we would send him this video message to Iran. 20 00:02:08,588 --> 00:02:10,688 Iran was the country we were from, 21 00:02:12,088 --> 00:02:14,454 but I could neither remember Iran nor my father. 22 00:02:16,821 --> 00:02:20,788 * Until you take your last breath * 23 00:02:20,788 --> 00:02:21,821 * But you 24 00:02:21,821 --> 00:02:23,288 - Two years later, 25 00:02:23,288 --> 00:02:25,921 I just came back from summer camp, my mother told me, 26 00:02:25,921 --> 00:02:28,588 "Your father Kasra, is coming to see us soon." 27 00:02:30,088 --> 00:02:33,354 And there he was, standing on the other side of the street, 28 00:02:33,354 --> 00:02:35,321 dressed all in white. 29 00:02:35,321 --> 00:02:38,321 And I ran into his arms as if I had just seen him 30 00:02:38,321 --> 00:02:39,621 before the summer break. 31 00:02:42,088 --> 00:02:45,088 The truth was last time I did see him 32 00:02:45,088 --> 00:02:47,788 it was in one of the most horrible places in the world. 33 00:02:49,488 --> 00:02:52,288 But, of course, I didn't know about that. 34 00:02:52,288 --> 00:02:55,488 * No one answer your prayers 35 00:02:55,488 --> 00:02:56,754 * Until you take off that dress * 36 00:02:56,754 --> 00:02:59,321 - Today, I'm 35 years old 37 00:02:59,321 --> 00:03:01,421 and I know my father couldn't be with us 38 00:03:01,421 --> 00:03:04,988 because he was trapped in a political prison called Evin. 39 00:03:04,988 --> 00:03:05,854 I also know 40 00:03:07,888 --> 00:03:10,088 I was born in that prison. 41 00:03:10,088 --> 00:03:13,421 And that's basically everything I know. 42 00:03:20,088 --> 00:03:21,554 I mean I know I'm an actress 43 00:03:21,554 --> 00:03:24,621 and I'm pretty good at telling other people's stories, 44 00:03:24,621 --> 00:03:26,354 but I'm at a point in my life 45 00:03:26,354 --> 00:03:29,421 where I don't wanna hide behind those stories anymore. 46 00:03:29,421 --> 00:03:31,854 I wanna find out what my story is. 47 00:03:34,088 --> 00:03:36,121 But where in the world to start? 48 00:03:47,688 --> 00:03:51,588 (speaking in foreign language) 49 00:05:07,688 --> 00:05:11,088 For a long time I had been upset with my work as an actress. 50 00:05:12,388 --> 00:05:14,621 I was tired playing those cliches of refugees 51 00:05:14,621 --> 00:05:16,421 who fled from made-up horrors. 52 00:05:17,554 --> 00:05:19,421 I had been a refugee myself 53 00:05:19,421 --> 00:05:21,721 and I had a story to tell. 54 00:05:21,721 --> 00:05:23,421 I mean born in prison. 55 00:05:23,421 --> 00:05:26,488 Who in the world is born in prison and why? 56 00:05:26,488 --> 00:05:30,221 The problem was, I had no clue what my story was 57 00:05:30,221 --> 00:05:34,121 and finding it out, actually terrified me. 58 00:05:34,121 --> 00:05:36,121 What I knew were bits and pieces 59 00:05:36,121 --> 00:05:38,554 my mother with publicly speak about. 60 00:05:38,554 --> 00:05:40,521 Yeah, that's my mom today. 61 00:05:41,988 --> 00:05:45,888 (speaking in foreign language) 62 00:07:03,488 --> 00:07:04,721 (audience applauding) 63 00:07:04,721 --> 00:07:07,688 It is really true, I mean what a story. 64 00:07:07,688 --> 00:07:10,088 My mom was somehow released from prison, 65 00:07:10,088 --> 00:07:14,454 fled Iran as a single mother, wrote a PhD in psychology, 66 00:07:14,454 --> 00:07:17,154 and became the first female migrant candidate 67 00:07:17,154 --> 00:07:18,421 for mayor in Germany. 68 00:07:19,554 --> 00:07:20,388 It's crazy. 69 00:07:21,521 --> 00:07:23,688 20 years ago she met my stepdad Kurt, 70 00:07:23,688 --> 00:07:25,488 and gave birth to my sister Mira. 71 00:07:26,421 --> 00:07:29,588 (audience applauding) 72 00:07:41,788 --> 00:07:46,288 (speaking in foreign language) 73 00:07:46,288 --> 00:07:47,954 That's my stepdad Kurt. 74 00:07:47,954 --> 00:07:51,721 He's a psychoanalyst and a child of Holocaust survivors. 75 00:07:51,721 --> 00:07:55,154 He's a famous researcher on how trauma is being passed on 76 00:07:55,154 --> 00:07:57,088 from one generation to another. 77 00:07:58,454 --> 00:08:01,254 Kurt's work has always been a huge inspiration to me. 78 00:08:01,254 --> 00:08:05,154 Since 15 years, he meets with Shoah survivors every week, 79 00:08:05,154 --> 00:08:07,521 listening to them, supporting to them, 80 00:08:07,521 --> 00:08:10,654 eating lots of cake and sharing a couple of jokes. 81 00:08:13,354 --> 00:08:14,288 - She's so young. 82 00:08:14,288 --> 00:08:15,221 (speaking in foreign language) 83 00:08:15,221 --> 00:08:16,288 She's so young. 84 00:08:21,554 --> 00:08:25,554 (speaking in foreign language) 85 00:08:26,988 --> 00:08:28,988 - My sister Mira is much younger 86 00:08:28,988 --> 00:08:30,688 and was born with a disability. 87 00:08:32,554 --> 00:08:36,088 So in my family we say we have g***t them all. 88 00:08:36,088 --> 00:08:39,388 People with disabilities, foreigners and Jews. 89 00:08:42,521 --> 00:08:45,154 My mom and I get along super well, 90 00:08:45,154 --> 00:08:47,888 but we just can't talk about the past. 91 00:08:47,888 --> 00:08:49,621 Three decades of silence 92 00:08:49,621 --> 00:08:51,454 and not once I had asked her, 93 00:08:51,454 --> 00:08:55,288 "Mom, what has happened to us in prison?" 94 00:08:55,288 --> 00:08:57,188 And not once did she tell me, 95 00:08:57,188 --> 00:08:59,654 "Maryam, I think we should talk about something." 96 00:09:02,788 --> 00:09:05,721 On a summer holiday I took my courage in both hands 97 00:09:05,721 --> 00:09:08,654 and told her about my plan to do a movie about our story. 98 00:09:10,088 --> 00:09:11,854 I even showed her a trailer I had made 99 00:09:11,854 --> 00:09:14,421 and hoped that it would open up the conversation. 100 00:09:14,421 --> 00:09:16,788 That we would finally talk and cry a little 101 00:09:16,788 --> 00:09:18,921 and everything would be said. 102 00:09:18,921 --> 00:09:21,188 And in fact, she was very moved, 103 00:09:21,188 --> 00:09:23,821 but eventually the conversation did not come up. 104 00:09:32,088 --> 00:09:35,954 (speaking in foreign language) 105 00:10:11,221 --> 00:10:13,888 It was too painful for my mom to talk 106 00:10:13,888 --> 00:10:16,954 and at the same time, I couldn't go on living in denial 107 00:10:16,954 --> 00:10:19,088 of the questions I had anymore. 108 00:10:19,088 --> 00:10:21,354 I had been in psychoanalysis for years 109 00:10:21,354 --> 00:10:23,154 and I knew I was pretty much sane 110 00:10:23,154 --> 00:10:26,354 and this wasn't about me finding myself. 111 00:10:26,354 --> 00:10:29,488 Something about my birth was just not personal 112 00:10:29,488 --> 00:10:31,621 and I had to find out what it was. 113 00:10:39,154 --> 00:10:41,554 So what is it that I do know? 114 00:10:41,554 --> 00:10:44,554 I found this picture of my mom before she fled Iran. 115 00:10:44,554 --> 00:10:47,254 She was 19 and already my mom 116 00:10:47,254 --> 00:10:48,988 and that wasn't a costume. 117 00:10:48,988 --> 00:10:51,954 She had no choice whether she wanted to wear that or not. 118 00:10:51,954 --> 00:10:53,388 The law forced her too. 119 00:10:54,854 --> 00:10:57,788 In school I learned that my parents grew up in a monarchy 120 00:10:59,254 --> 00:11:02,621 and the ruler and dictator of the country was the Shah. 121 00:11:02,621 --> 00:11:04,388 Under the Shah, my parents were allowed 122 00:11:04,388 --> 00:11:05,954 to wear whatever they liked. 123 00:11:05,954 --> 00:11:09,254 But everything else, like freedom of speech, was denied. 124 00:11:11,988 --> 00:11:14,121 - Could a journalist in Iran 125 00:11:14,121 --> 00:11:16,254 dare to criticize His Majesty? 126 00:11:18,154 --> 00:11:20,354 - He could, but I don't think that he would. 127 00:11:23,921 --> 00:11:26,321 - The Shah and a small minority of the country 128 00:11:26,321 --> 00:11:27,988 lived in fame and glory, 129 00:11:29,421 --> 00:11:31,888 while the rest of the country, was struggling with poverty. 130 00:11:34,454 --> 00:11:36,154 My parents were against that. 131 00:11:36,154 --> 00:11:38,654 They listened to John Lennon, read Marx 132...