My welcoming committee to the US part V

“Who did you stay with in Iran?”

“My uncle.”

“What's his name and where does he live?”

“Houshang Mashouf, Sarhang Sakhai and Hafez St. Building ...”

“How old is he? Has he ever been to the US?”

“He's 68 I think. He's never been to the US.”

“Why not?”

“He can't get a visa. He tried for a few years but could only get a visa to Canada so everyone went there to visit him. I never met him until I went to Iran in 2006.”

“I'm sorry to hear about that.”

“I'm surprised you wouldn't know that it is very hard for Iranians to get visas to the US.”

“Let me tell you something. We don't know very much. We are given something called 'cultural sensitivity training.' It's actually a packet about this big.” He took his thumb and forefinger and displayed the size of the packet, which from how wide his fingers were was probably around 20 pages.

He continued, “I know that when I handle your Koran, that I shouldn't put anything else on top of it and that if I'm sitting with my legs crossed, I shouldn't face the sole of my foot towards you.”

“That's unfortunate, because if you knew a little more you may be able to understand what is normal behavior and what is suspicious... which is your job.”

“So what's in the film?” He asked obviously changing the subject.

“A lot of stuff. Me with my family, me break dancing with kids in Iran, some footage from the Zurkhoone, which is a traditional exercise or martial art.”

“It says here you went to a military base.”

I did not remember visiting a base but was reminded when he slid me a copy of my expense records with the entry "Taxi to Zurkhune Qasr Firuze on military base- 3000 Toman." I regretted writing those two words that were intended to remind me of which Zurkune I went to.

“Yes but I only went to work out. You know how military bases have gyms that guests can come work out? That's what I did.”

“Where was it?”

“I have no idea. It was in Tehran. We went there at night.”

“You understand how this could be flipped on you?” He said.

“I don't understand. Because I went to a military base?”

“You went to a military base and received para military martial arts training.”

I laughed to myself at how ridiculous that sounded and then feared the actual notion of that being made into a case.

With fear in my heart and a condescending tone I said, “Are you serious?"

My welcoming committee to the US part IV

I returned to the general holding area where I made small talk with a man from Brazil and another man from Iran. When talking with the Iranian man we both silently acknowledged the routine matter of our situation as Iranians returning to the US even though mine was a bit exceptional. After another half an hour of waiting, Officer T returned with all of my other belongings and a binder filled with xeroxed copies of my documents.

We moved into a small disorganized office with two desks with computers and a few chairs. I sat across from his desk.

“Now we have a lot of questions,” he said. “But before we get started do you have any questions?”

“No,” I said in my best poker face.

“Most people ask us why they are here.”

“I guess that's a good question,” I replied.

“Our other departments view travel histories, backgrounds, occupations and then tell us who we should be talking to. What we do is interview and do an initial evaluation. So let's get started. First of all what were you doing in Iran?”

“I was there to visit family and work on my documentary film.”

“You said you were staying in Tehran. Did you go anywhere else?”

“I went to Qom which is about an hour away,” I said preparing for the onslaught of new questions.

“What did you do there?” He said this while starting a new page in his notebook made for my file.

“I was there to visit a religious shrine and do some shopping. I can tell you what I bought there but you already saw all of it.”

“You didn't visit any training camps while you were there?”

“No, nor did I see any 'training camps.' I didn't go to Pakistan.”

He looked at me and saw that I was visibly offended of the notion of going to the kinds of terrorist training camps shown on television at any mention of Al Qaeda.

“Are you working with the Iranian government in any capacity? Did you meet anyone in high levels of the Iranian government?”

“No.”

“Who is Alexander Kluge?”

“Who?”

“Alexander Kluge. We found his name in your things.”

“Where in my things?”

“In your notebook. Who is he?” He said this while showing me the copy of the pages in my notebook.

“You see, I'm a filmmaker and I use that notebook to write down ideas. So anything you see in there might not make any sense to you. Alexander Kluge is the name of a filmmaker that one of my professors recommended.”

“Ok. But now you see how this is going to work.”

“This is going to take forever,” I whined.

My welcoming committee to the US part III

My luggage was all taken out and searched by Officer T who was now wearing latex gloves while sorting through my belongings. After sorting my things into three main piles, Officer T instructed me to pack up my belongings in the pile containing clothing. The other two piles consisted of CDs, DVDs, my laptop, cell phone, Ipod, and digital still camera. The other pile consisted of my magazines, papers, notebooks, and film documents. Officer T collected both piles with difficulty and carried them to another area in which I never saw.

I was made to wait in a general holding area where others were being singled out from the customs line. I sat there for about two hours while Officer T, backed up data and made photo copies.

About 45 minutes into my waiting I asked another Homeland Security agent whether I could use a bathroom or not. A blank face fell on this agent.
“Let me check,” he said. I wondered how many people were denied this request and hope I wasn't one of them. A few minutes of waiting inspired me to display to this man that I had a plastic water bottle and I was ready to use it. I got his attention and shook the bottle over my head.

“Any word yet on the potty break?” I said sounding like Ward Cleaver.

After checking with my holding officer who was in an undisclosed location at the time the other agent instructed me to use the bathroom within the customs area. I was given a foot long red plastic square with the words “BATHROOM PASS” on it to take with me to the lavatory.

Homeland Security Searches featured on NPR

Suit Accuses Homeland Security of Illegal Searches

My welcoming committee to the US part II

I was instructed to collect my luggage from the carousel and bring it to a table and to include all of my carry on and items on my person. This area was in plain view of the baggage carousels and a general holding area for those being singled out by customs. I asked Officer T if there was anyway I could make my connecting flight to Tucson in an hour and he said that I wouldn't be making my plane.

“Can I make a phone call to my folks to tell them I won't be making my flight.”

“We'll see,” he said.

The two officers began removing the contents of my bags and separating clothing from papers and any electronic and optical media.

The other officer asked me a question as he opened the camera case. “What religion are you?”

“I'm a Muslim,” I said.

“Did you go to any religious schools when you were there?”

I sarcastically replied “Of course.”

“Oh boy,” he sighed. After this comment the officer was called away by another officer and I never saw him again.

My welcoming committee to the US

As some of you already know, my arrival from Iran to the US was quite an encounter. Now that I feel safer about telling the story I will release it to you.

On 1/13/08 I was exiting Air France 0388 from Paris to Atlanta at 3:45pm. Upon exiting the aircraft into the jet way I noticed that there were two homeland security officers in uniform checking passports. I found this odd considering my last international flight had no such passport check before the customs line. One of the officers, who I will call Officer T, was a tall white man with a military haircut. The other, who I will call Officer C, was a man who resembled Tone Loc with a police uniform on. After looking at my passport Officer T looked over to the other officer and told me to follow them into an elevator which went directly to the customs baggage claim area. Both officers stopped checking passports and accompanied me in the elevator. During this time my passport stayed in their hands. The other officer inquired as to what the contents of my metal case carry on was.

“A camera. I'm a film student.”

He followed that response with “Oh yea? Have you ever seen that movie The Kingdom” in a semi threatening tone.

I replied, “No.”

To be continued...

this news is good news

From what I hear I will be getting a call from the feds this week about my film.  I wonder if they took notes I can use for editing.  (sarcastic LOL)

one lawyer closer

One lawyer closer to getting this situation handled. Unfortunately for me the law doesn't apply to certain people.

More later.

waiting for..

5 weeks of footage
Months of research
Now I'm waiting for a phone call.
If I don't get that phone call you will learn more about what I'm talking about.

Propaganda at its worst

If you haven't heard yet, tiny speedboats can "threaten" huge American warships. I smelled hoax immediately when I read this story. Unfortunately the international press picked up this story and went to town without any critical commentary of such a ludicrous idea. I'm glad that I am far from the broadcasts of Fox News who were probably designing a new animated title for the "Battle of Hormuz."

Let's see some more theatrics like we saw at the UN in 2003 with the "satellite images" of nuclear- WMD- terrorism pie ovens.

p.s.
It's really cold here.

Preparing for Moharram

Tehran is preparing for the annual commemoration of Moharram. Many bazaar shops are selling banners, flags, posters, and other items referencing Imam Husayn. The colorful feathers and shields are designed to be fit on large alams and displayed on the street. The appendages of the alam are meant to represent the heads of the Imam and his followers which were placed on the tops of spears after the battle and paraded to Syria. The alam is generally operated by someone from a Zurkhane who can lift such a huge device.

Zurkhane

We have shot at 4 different zurkhanes in the last week. Every time we go to a new place we are invited to another. I have been learning the different styles and training along with the regulars at each of them. Morshed Hamid and Omid's wife's uncle, Daie Husayn, have been my trainers. Shooting in these spaces is a major challenge and not being behind the camera for the majority is a bit stressful.

Tehran vs Mashad

Monday night was the madness. Upon arriving to the gym about 10 bboys from Mashad came to practice. The obvious battle ensued, Tehran vs. Mashad. I'll give it to some of the Mashadi guys for being on the beat more and a few of them have some footwork but for the most part Tehran's power and blowups overpowered them. I was excited to be a part of the battle with the Tehran team. After the battle we talked about forming a national team composed of bboys from both sides to train for BOTY and IBE. The sports federation here will sponsor the team if we can get our act together.

Me and the Mashadis.

Shooting in Tehran

Shooting in Tehran has been challenging but exciting to say the least. Our camera operator, Agha Valadkhani, is amazing and has worked on some serious shoots here in Iran. In addition is mustache is cooler than most people's lives. We acquired an official liaison, Agha Sayfi, who has been tagging along for the last few days. Our days have been packed with locations. Between shooting all of the city footage, working out in the zurkhane, and bboying my body is quite upset with me. Unfortunately, I officially ran out of Advil this morning :(.

Sabr

I honestly cannot tell you how many turns this whole thing has taken in the last week. Last night we spent almost 2 hours in traffic only to arrive to the Zurkhane an hour late and turn around and go home. However, I did meet someone last night that knew my dad in his power lifting days. I apologize for the lack of Zurkhane photos, but the stress is a bit higher for me to shoot there than anywhere else. Sound is a nightmare, lighting is tricky, and while all this is going on I'm on the other side of the lens.

Training in Tehran

Last night was a practice at the Shaheed Chamron sports complex on Dr. Shariati Street. The floor was definitely nicer/cleaner than the last gym we practiced. A few of the guys last night practiced footwork and flow moves which was nice to see. The way practices work here is a bit different from the US. Not only does everyone stretch out but they also run laps and do conditioning exercises. On the average, all of the bboys here are in much better shape than bboys in the US. Most of them either come from a martial arts background or gymnastics. I wish I could upload footage from here but 56k is molasses wackness.

I crushed one of the kids last night when he overheard me saying hip hop dancing sucks (no offense). I felt awful but mentioned that if someone can incorporate freestyle moves with bboying their style will be the hotness.

Night On The Town

Last night was an expensive and cold night of eating kabobs in Darband. Against the warnings of my uncle, we ate outdoors in one of the coldest areas of Tehran. After dinner we enjoyed 2000 Toman milkshakes (that is ridiculously expensive) in the rich part of town, had fun with Ali's glasses and haggled cab drivers for lower fares.

Big bday

The 19th was my birthday. If you forgot, it's no problem. Here is the photo summary of the awesomeness that ensued on my bday. After a day of constant changing plans of whether to come back to Tehran from Qom or not, Mahdi B and I arrived to Tehran at 10:30pm not knowing that my uncle and cousin were waiting for me to come home all day. Regardless, this was one of my best birthdays for many reasons, some which I will disclose in a not so global fashion when I come back to the US.

New Tehrani Friends

Yesterday I finally met Hossein Battle and his crew, ironically named Unknown Crew. They took me to the bashga (gym) for practice. The bboys in Tehran have practice everyday at public gyms around the city. Each gym has a different day for practice and every bboy in the city can use the gym for free. For the most part everyone practices power, very little tops, and very little footwork. About 5 guys have consistent airflares and a few of those have some very good combos. 2 guys have "control style" 90s that they could probably do 6-8 rotations consistently. Hossein's crew asked me if I could tell if they were bboys when I saw them walking towards us in the subway. I said of course. I remember when I first started bboying, we used to analyze every person our age we saw to see if they were a bboy or not. The first thing we looked at was the sneakers and how they were being worn down, their clothes, then the height, then the build.

There is a crew battle in 2 weeks that I am going to battle with them. It is rumored that Lilou from France will be coming for the battle. They might have me judge the battle but I would rather compete. I really want to look into making a national Iranian bboy team to travel to jams in Europe and Asia. The problem is that the guys have trouble getting visas to European and Asian countries.

arrival

Today is the first day that the internet card I got is working properly...
Still smoothing out the edges of the production schedule here. People have been extremely helpful with the project and my Amu and Pessar Amu have been converted into film producers. Tomorrow we are going to Vizarat Irshad to get some official status. Hatim Productions has also done a lot to help.
On another note
Know that when you order the "Moslem meal" on Air France it means that you will get your food 30 min. before everyone else.
Know that if you sit next to another Iranian American on the plane to Iran, they probably know one of your family members.... amazing.
Praise the Lord for being able to eat hot red beets from street vendors with old friends twice in a day without getting sick.. yet.

more pictures to come...