By
Darius Kadivar
Rezwan Razani is an entertaining, irreverent and
thought-provoking writer, filmmaker and thinker. Born in the
USA
to an Iranian Father and American Mother, she grew up in
Shiraz,
Iran.
That’s where we met for the first time at the age of 6 or 7 in Third grade at
the Shiraz International Community School (S.I.C.S). After the revolution, we
hadn’t seen each other for years. The only contact I had was through emails, and
visits to her satirical (yet sincere) website: http://ajaban.com/ - It’s a creative website
dedicated to promoting an “etat d’esprit” - a lot of iconoclastic mayhem with a
humorous tone.
Juju the Cage-Bird, movie
still
I was in
Los
Angeles
this past month for the premiere of “The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam” by
Kayvan Mashayekh – read my review of that film here. And this link will take you to my article on
the history of Hollywood’s
depictions of Omar Khayyam:
During my trip, I had a chance to visit with Rezwan
and catch up on our lives and talk about the good old days of a childhood spent
in Iran. I also got the treat of seeing her short film, Juju the
Cage-Bird, a mixture of stop-motion animation and live action.
Rezwan
Razani at the Premier of « The Keeper : The Legend of Omar
Khayyam » and that’s Pop Idol Andy (background) speaking to a Fan ;0)
The movie is unforgettable. If you get the
chance to see Juju the Cage-bird you will understand. (The film is not
available to the public. «Qabel nadareh», she says. «It was an
experimental film. I have to fix it. Namak kam dAreh. The
music rights need to be cleared or the sound track needs to be
re-mastered.» I encourage her to do this as soon as possible, because this
charming film should be made available to a wider audience). "Life's a
Cage and Then You Fly" is her motto …well that of Juju. It was made for a film
class at Cornell
University.
It was such a critical and popular hit that it is shown regularly to film
students at Cornell.
Rezwan describes the philosophy behind Juju as
follows:
“The story of
Juju was inspired by the poet Rumi, who asked "How should the cage-bird know
about the air? It supposes gloomily, "I have no wings." To which the Western
bred Juju responds "Oh, yeah? Well not if I'm a Techno cage-bird!" - so Juju
simply retrofits the cage with wings and flies off - in the cage - on a series
of adventures. But then one day, Juju sets the cage to auto-pilot... Juju poses
many deep questions about the nature of freedom in a world of barriers,
limitations, technological promise and dependencies. But Juju isn't just another
morphin' power ranger robo-creature. Juju is a classic metaphor for our times.
Despite the freedom that comes from the techno-lust and cage retrofit, Juju
still does not know about the air, and "supposes gloomily I have no wings." The
story of Juju is inspiring, funny and philosophical. It shows you there is a
time to be technological, and a time to be spiritual, and a time to go out on
the faith of your own limitations and not hide from them.” Visit Juju’s web page
at http://ajaban.com/resfiction/juju/jujucage.html
I had known Rezwan as a kid for being witty,
spiritual and with a great taste for literature. A kind of Laura Ingalls of our
times, I thought. Time has proven I was correct in my assessment. For someone
who wanted to be an engineer at
Berkeley
but decided it was not her thing, she chose the right path, following her muse.
(Note: She has a B.S. in Environmental Sciences from U.C. Berkeley. She
also has an M.R.P. in City and Regional Planning from Cornell but she says she
pursued these to «inform [her] writing of Redemptive Environmental Science
Fiction» - some of which can be found at http://ajaban.com/resfiction/resfiction.htm)
A fan of Xena, Warrior Woman, she collects film props
such as spears and sword replicas which decorate her house. She uses the spears
as curtain rods. Very chic, yet threatening. It subtly haunts the
t’Arof dynamic at her house («BefarmAid, chA’i» she says, and how can you refuse
looking at those spears?)
Speaking of t’Arof, one of her many cultural projects
includes the infamous t’Arof Persian language magnet kit. She left a comfortable
job at Warner Bros to launch her own company selling Persian (a.k.a. Farsi) word
magnets with English translation and transliteration on the back. «Use them to
Bond with the Persian language like never before! Exercise your Creativity with
the Standard (motedAvel), Courtship (xAstegAri), and Pleasantries (t'Arof)
kits.» Available at http://www.ajabanzaban.com/magnets/m-index.html
Now I have to confess
that Persian is my second language or should I say the third after French and
certainly the hardest to learn, I felt. I still recall the scary ritual dictee’s
given to me every Wednesday afternoon by my regretted Farsi teacher Mr. K. The
half an hour dictee would often exceed two to three hours. «It’s “Sandali” with
a “sad” not a “sin” Dariush Khan.» after which Mr. K. with a sadistic grin would
ask me to work harder for the next Wednsday. Harder!? I would think - what will
that be?
Left
to right Rezwan Razani, author Darius KADIVAR and sister
Sylvie KADIVAR at
the movie premier of «The Keeper : The
Legend of Omar
Khayyam»
Why should it be hard to learn a language when it can
be fun? Well my childhood prayers seem to have been answered 26 years
later thanks to Rezwan’s magnetic determination. This is a fun and
educational way of learning a language as well as our Persian expressions.
And why not a fun way of re-inventing it? A Culture dies when it fails to
reinvent itself. I don’t know which famous guy said that but I concur.
In addition to the
« bird in a cage that retrofits the cage » metaphor as seen in «Juju
the Cage-Bird», Rezwan’s work is marked by another bird metaphor : Simorq.
“At Ajabanzaban we want to get simorganized” (link: http://www.ajabanzaban.com/heritage/simorqanize.html
) she says. Taking off from Farideddin Attar’s «Conference of the Birds», she
has has extended the Simorq myth to relate to cultural diversity and
cooperation. Looking around her website, you see that this person wants to
promote empowerment, cultural cooperation, and free thinking for everyone. Her
writing shows you "fun new ways to enjoy and exploit your own culture!" It shows
you what a wonderful medium language can be and how accessible it is to anyone,
and how it can be used to open up mental blocks, how it can be used by each
person to represent their unique self. Like she says: «The goal is to find your
own voice, so that you can speak YOU-ish in either English or Persian.»
For Iranians like
myself who are caught between two cultures, speaking Farsi and English has
always been a dilemma. I think this is even more true for the second generation
of Iranians in the Diaspora who are confused by a rich heritage that they don’t
know how to communicate in or use to their own benefit. My father’s generation
belonged to the upper class western-educated Iranians before the revolution of
1979. I recall with amusement how my father’s colleagues used to mix English
Medical or Engineering terms and Farsi. In other words “Gholombeh Solombi” Words
to sound smart. Even our late Shah used to do that when giving an interview to
Persian Media which often annoyed intellectuals.
This national sport was ended with the 1979
Revolution for better or for worse but I have always thought that the lack of
command of our language by our rulers and the pre-Iranian revolution generation
was due to a real frustration, a complex, so to speak, that our language was not
as trendy as English. I think that this is also due to the fact that we were
often discouraged by an education which promoted “Hard Work” and maybe not
enough Fun Play. Well Rezwan Razani’s Persian Magnets certainly strike at that
dilemma. Of course, she says, there is much more to be done by all of us
out here to change the relationship of the average Iranian-American with their
language from embarrassed neglect to playful engagement.
Well, I’m actually
Iranian-French-American, but I see what she means. I need to banish those
nightmares of Mr. K’s dictee and jump into playing with Persian without
fear ! The words are smaller than me! Can’t wait to see
Ajabzaban in a French-Persian Version Rez. So Keep up the good work and may Luck
be with you and may you keep on Flying like Juju.
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