The Films of Hamid Rahmanian & Melissa Hibbard: Shahrbanoo & Sir Alfred of Charles de Gaulle Airport

This wonderful double feature compiles two documentaries by married filmmakers Hamid Rahmanian and Melissa Hibbard. The hour-shy 2002 Shahrbanoo follows the unlikely and unusual Tehran-based friendship that develops between Melissa, a New York feminist visiting her Iranian husband Hamid's family, and housekeeper Shahrbanoo. When Melissa and her husband are invited to Shahrbanoo's home, the gathering turns into a lively and often frank discussion of how Americans and Iranians view each other. The short 2001 documentary Sir Alfred of Charles de Gaulle Airport follows the bizarre fate of Mehran Karemi Nasseri, who (at the time of the film's production) was stuck for 12 years at the Parisian transport hub due to snafus in immigration law that prevented both his deportation and his absorption into the French legal system (the story was the basis for Steven Spielberg's less-than-successful The Terminal). Nasseri insisted on being called Sir Alfred, hence the title. Both films provide a fascinating and entertaining glimpse into intercultural relations—the first, with its personal approach to opening an American-Iranian conversation, and the second, with its focus on a stateless man who becomes an unlikely fixture amidst the frenetic activity of a busy international airport. Both films are beautifully shot, crisply edited, and genuinely provocative without ever becoming preachy. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)