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

00:00:17,788 --> 00:00:22,("Faith Hymn" by
Beautiful Chorus)

00:00:34,988 --> 00:00:37,- A legend
in the Talmud says

00:00:37,321 --> 00:00:41,that when a child is born, it
carries a candle over its head

00:00:41,654 --> 00:00:44,as a symbol that it
knows everything.

00:00:46,088 --> 00:00:48,In the moment of its birth,

00:00:48,021 --> 00:00:49,an angel blows the candle out

00:00:50,888 --> 00:00:52,and the child forgets it all.

00:00:53,754 --> 00:00:55,During the path of its life

00:00:55,721 --> 00:00:59,it must learn to remember
everything it had forgotten.

00:01:00,254 --> 00:01:04,(speaking in foreign language)

00:01:34,754 --> 00:01:38,("Learning" By Perfume Genius)

00:01:39,754 --> 00:01:40,- Mommy.

00:01:47,821 --> 00:01:48,It was 1991.

00:01:50,288 --> 00:01:52,My mom Nargess was 26 years old,

00:01:52,754 --> 00:01:55,and she was living alone
with me in Germany.

00:01:58,421 --> 00:01:59,Momma.

00:01:59,354 --> 00:02:00,I also had a father,

00:02:00,888 --> 00:02:03,but he couldn't be with
us for some reason,

00:02:03,554 --> 00:02:06,that's why we would send him
this video message to Iran.

00:02:08,588 --> 00:02:10,Iran was the country
we were from,

00:02:12,088 --> 00:02:14,but I could neither
remember Iran nor my father.

00:02:16,821 --> 00:02:20,* Until you take
your last breath *

00:02:20,788 --> 00:02:21,* But you

00:02:21,821 --> 00:02:23,- Two years later,

00:02:23,288 --> 00:02:25,I just came back from summer
camp, my mother told me,

00:02:25,921 --> 00:02:28,"Your father Kasra, is
coming to see us soon."

00:02:30,088 --> 00:02:33,And there he was, standing on
the other side of the street,

00:02:33,354 --> 00:02:35,dressed all in white.

00:02:35,321 --> 00:02:38,And I ran into his arms
as if I had just seen him

00:02:38,321 --> 00:02:39,before the summer break.

00:02:42,088 --> 00:02:45,The truth was last
time I did see him

00:02:45,088 --> 00:02:47,it was in one of the most
horrible places in the world.

00:02:49,488 --> 00:02:52,But, of course, I
didn't know about that.

00:02:52,288 --> 00:02:55,* No one answer your prayers

00:02:55,488 --> 00:02:56,* Until you take
off that dress *

00:02:56,754 --> 00:02:59,- Today,
I'm 35 years old

00:02:59,321 --> 00:03:01,and I know my father
couldn't be with us

00:03:01,421 --> 00:03:04,because he was trapped in a
political prison called Evin.

00:03:04,988 --> 00:03:05,I also know

00:03:07,888 --> 00:03:10,I was born in that prison.

00:03:10,088 --> 00:03:13,And that's basically
everything I know.

00:03:20,088 --> 00:03:21,I mean I know I'm an actress

00:03:21,554 --> 00:03:24,and I'm pretty good at telling
other people's stories,

00:03:24,621 --> 00:03:26,but I'm at a point in my life

00:03:26,354 --> 00:03:29,where I don't wanna hide
behind those stories anymore.

00:03:29,421 --> 00:03:31,I wanna find out
what my story is.

00:03:34,088 --> 00:03:36,But where in the world to start?

00:03:47,688 --> 00:03:51,(speaking in foreign language)

00:05:07,688 --> 00:05:11,For a long time I had been upset
with my work as an actress.

00:05:12,388 --> 00:05:14,I was tired playing
those cliches of refugees

00:05:14,621 --> 00:05:16,who fled from made-up horrors.

00:05:17,554 --> 00:05:19,I had been a refugee myself

00:05:19,421 --> 00:05:21,and I had a story to tell.

00:05:21,721 --> 00:05:23,I mean born in prison.

00:05:23,421 --> 00:05:26,Who in the world is
born in prison and why?

00:05:26,488 --> 00:05:30,The problem was, I had
no clue what my story was

00:05:30,221 --> 00:05:34,and finding it out,
actually terrified me.

00:05:34,121 --> 00:05:36,What I knew were bits and pieces

00:05:36,121 --> 00:05:38,my mother with
publicly speak about.

00:05:38,554 --> 00:05:40,Yeah, that's my mom today.

00:05:41,988 --> 00:05:45,(speaking in foreign language)

00:07:03,488 --> 00:07:04,(audience applauding)

00:07:04,721 --> 00:07:07,It is really true,
I mean what a story.

00:07:07,688 --> 00:07:10,My mom was somehow
released from prison,

00:07:10,088 --> 00:07:14,fled Iran as a single mother,
wrote a PhD in psychology,

00:07:14,454 --> 00:07:17,and became the first
female migrant candidate

00:07:17,154 --> 00:07:18,for mayor in Germany.

00:07:19,554 --> 00:07:20,It's crazy.

00:07:21,521 --> 00:07:23,20 years ago she
met my stepdad Kurt,

00:07:23,688 --> 00:07:25,and gave birth to
my sister Mira.

00:07:26,421 --> 00:07:29,(audience applauding)

00:07:41,788 --> 00:07:46,(speaking in foreign language)

00:07:46,288 --> 00:07:47,That's my stepdad Kurt.

00:07:47,954 --> 00:07:51,He's a psychoanalyst and a
child of Holocaust survivors.

00:07:51,721 --> 00:07:55,He's a famous researcher on
how trauma is being passed on

00:07:55,154 --> 00:07:57,from one generation to another.

00:07:58,454 --> 00:08:01,Kurt's work has always been
a huge inspiration to me.

00:08:01,254 --> 00:08:05,Since 15 years, he meets with
Shoah survivors every week,

00:08:05,154 --> 00:08:07,listening to them,
supporting to them,

00:08:07,521 --> 00:08:10,eating lots of cake and
sharing a couple of jokes.

00:08:13,354 --> 00:08:14,- She's so young.

00:08:14,288 --> 00:08:15,(speaking in foreign language)

00:08:15,221 --> 00:08:16,She's so young.

00:08:21,554 --> 00:08:25,(speaking in foreign language)

00:08:26,988 --> 00:08:28,- My sister
Mira is much younger

00:08:28,988 --> 00:08:30,and was born with a disability.

00:08:32,554 --> 00:08:36,So in my family we say
we have g***t them all.

00:08:36,088 --> 00:08:39,People with disabilities,
foreigners and Jews.

00:08:42,521 --> 00:08:45,My mom and I get
along super well,

00:08:45,154 --> 00:08:47,but we just can't
talk about the past.

00:08:47,888 --> 00:08:49,Three decades of silence

00:08:49,621 --> 00:08:51,and not once I had asked her,

00:08:51,454 --> 00:08:55,"Mom, what has happened
to us in prison?"

00:08:55,288 --> 00:08:57,And not once did she tell me,

00:08:57,188 --> 00:08:59,"Maryam, I think we should
talk about something."

00:09:02,788 --> 00:09:05,On a summer holiday I took
my courage in both hands

00:09:05,721 --> 00:09:08,and told her about my plan to
do a movie about our story.

00:09:10,088 --> 00:09:11,I even showed her a
trailer I had made

00:09:11,854 --> 00:09:14,and hoped that it would
open up the conversation.

00:09:14,421 --> 00:09:16,That we would finally
talk and cry a little

00:09:16,788 --> 00:09:18,and everything would be said.

00:09:18,921 --> 00:09:21,And in fact, she was very moved,

00:09:21,188 --> 00:09:23,but eventually the
conversation did not come up.

00:09:32,088 --> 00:09:35,(speaking in foreign language)

00:10:11,221 --> 00:10:13,It was too painful
for my mom to talk

00:10:13,888 --> 00:10:16,and at the same time, I
couldn't go on living in denial

00:10:16,954 --> 00:10:19,of the questions I had anymore.

00:10:19,088 --> 00:10:21,I had been in
psychoanalysis for years

00:10:21,354 --> 00:10:23,and I knew I was
pretty much sane

00:10:23,154 --> 00:10:26,and this wasn't about
me finding myself.

00:10:26,354 --> 00:10:29,Something about my birth
was just not personal

00:10:29,488 --> 00:10:31,and I had to find
out what it was.

00:10:39,154 --> 00:10:41,So what is it that I do know?

00:10:41,554 --> 00:10:44,I found this picture of my
mom before she fled Iran.

00:10:44,554 --> 00:10:47,She was 19 and already my mom

00:10:47,254 --> 00:10:48,and that wasn't a costume.

00:10:48,988 --> 00:10:51,She had no choice whether she
wanted to wear that or not.

00:10:51,954 --> 00:10:53,The law forced her too.

00:10:54,854 --> 00:10:57,In school I learned that my
parents grew up in a monarchy

00:10:59,254 --> 00:11:02,and the ruler and dictator
of the country was the Shah.

00:11:02,621 --> 00:11:04,Under the Shah, my
parents were allowed

00:11:04,388 --> 00:11:05,to wear whatever they liked.

00:11:05,954 --> 00:11:09,But everything else, like
freedom of speech, was denied.

00:11:11,988 --> 00:11:14,- Could
a journalist in Iran

00:11:14,121 --> 00:11:16,dare to criticize His Majesty?

00:11:18,154 --> 00:11:20,- He could, but I don't
think that he would.

00:11:23,921 --> 00:11:26,- The Shah and a
small minority of the country

00:11:26,321 --> 00:11:27,lived in fame and glory,

00:11:29,421 --> 00:11:31,while the rest of the country,
was struggling with poverty.

00:11:34,454 --> 00:11:36,My parents were against that.

00:11:36,154 --> 00:11:38,They listened to John
Lennon, read Marx

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