The TV Presenter and actress “Fakhri Khorvash” in the U.S.

A blithe “oh, I’m coming here to live!” at a border official is a great way to get taken off for questioning in a small stinky room. Mostly, they’ll be probing to see if you’re a legitimate immigrant and if you’ll need state support while you’re there, so carry your fully stamped and legitimate visa (which you have of course sorted out before you left), evidence of any job offers, the address of a place where you’re planning to stay, a copy of a bank statement to prove you’re not destitute, and knowledge in your head of your next steps. Some places won’t care, but don’t just assume it won’t happen. By 1972, the Iranian Ministry of Cultural Affairs had imposed strict guidelines in the depiction of nudity and sexual relations. A genre of popular film called filmfarsi constantly pushed against the boundaries. Inspired by, and competing in the popular space with, sexually overt European cinema, filmfarsi attempted to sell the erotic to the masses. In the advertisements for the 1973 film Chaos, Khorvash’s photograph appeared in which she posed on her knees in underwear. Her role was one of several wives of the protagonist, a middle-aged man, who despite being unattractive somehow managed to find women to have.

January 21, 2022 | 6:25 pm