Hot Docs 2008

Faced with a nation crumbling down around them, millions of Afghans have been fleeing their home country over the past 30 years. War, brutal regimes and poor quality of life have made it a necessity to move on. Many have sought refuge in Iran, most without official status or sanction in that country. While there, many Afghan men wed Iranian women, often despite deep-rooted cultural frictions. Their compelling stories are elegantly considered by award-winning filmmaker Mahvash Sheikholeslami in Where Do I Belong? As the couples struggle to be accepted, both officially and culturally, their stark interviews expose lives filled with raw and uncompromising decisions about love, country and communal acceptance. Sheikholeslami constructs the film inside a stunning photographic travelogue, filled with dramatic cinematography of rural and urban landscapes. The stories of the mixed Afghani-Iranian marriages often suggest bravery and patience; this is a visually poetic look at enduring, unlikely relationships.
-Brett Hendrie