Link TV’s BRIDGE TO IRAN series is a response to the cultural and political tensions that have developed between Iran and the U.S. since the Iranian revolution. Americans have long seen Iran as a mysterious boogeyman, its citizenry virulently anti-American and its government dangerously belligerent.  Scenes of American flag burnings, shouts of “Death to America!” and images of forbidding ayatollahs have graced American televisions since the 1979 Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis. In the past, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has encouraged American fears with bellicose sound bites by calling the U.S. the “Great Satan,” and by resuming a uranium enrichment program that prompted the United Nations and the European Union to impose sanctions out of concern for its potential to support nuclear weapons development.  The Bush administration encouraged the same fears, including Iran in the “Axis of Evil. ”  

Now, the Obama administration says it remains determined to change the tides by engaging in a dialogue with the Iranian government – yet the Iranian government in place today faces its own legitimacy problem.  As the legality of the Ahmadinejad administration is questioned in the aftermath of the recent elections, and the streets of Tehran erupt in protest, U.S.-Iranian relations face a critical and historic moment.  But aside from strained diplomacy, national politics and the war of words between the two governments, how much do Americans and Iranians really know about one another?

Link TV’s BRIDGE TO IRAN series seeks to fill in the knowledge gap by giving Americans a unique glimpse into the lives of ordinary Iranians, through the power of documentary film.  Showcasing documentaries by contemporary independent Iranian filmmakers living and working in Iran, BRIDGE TO IRAN shatters preconceived notions about a nation and culture that most Americans know little about and have never experienced firsthand.

The series covers a wide range of subjects about ordinary life in Iran:  young girls facing womanhood within an Islamic society; religious pilgrims who risk their lives to visit a holy site in war-torn Iraq; rural life and political awareness; and an energetic and surprising exploration of Tehran as a mega metropolis. Each documentary in the series will be introduced by the BRIDGE TO IRAN series host Salome Azizi, and some are also followed by an exclusive, in-depth interview with the filmmaker.

Support for Bridge to Iran is generously provided by:

Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art 
The Parsa Community Foundation 
Caipirinha Foundation
Ploughshares Fund
Rockefeller Brothers Fund

LEARN MORE:
Previous Bridge to Iran films

Talk to Iran - Watch online

Iran - Friends or Enemies? Watch this discussion panel with Mosaic's Jamal Dajani online

Enough Fear.org

Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran