End of Exile (17 År av Längtan)

A WOMAN RETURNS TO IRAN AFTER SEVENTEEN YEARS IN FORCED EXILE


I'll never forget the day when I gently told my mother I had to leave Iran.
“Will it be hard for you if I go away for a while?”. “As long as I know you’re safe I’ll be okay”, she said.

I thought it would be six months. But seventeen years have passed.

So begins the documentary about one woman’s return to her homeland, Iran, after seventeen years of forced exile. Many Iranians were forced to leave their countries in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. For many, the loss of their roots has become unbearable, and they have chosen to return to their countries.

So many years apart from one’s family and culture takes a great toll on a person. As Nahid says in the film: “Sitting here surrounded by loved ones is such an incredible feeling. So simple, so grand. Why were we forced to pay such a high price?”