March 1983 Tehran –

Wide shot:

The city is shrouded in a mandatory blackout.

The deafening sound of alarms can be heard echoing against the cityscape.

Cut to:

Inside the hospital –

A hand-held camera runs along the hospital corridor bumping into passersby in a panic who are proceeding towards the emergency shelters.

Halfway down the hall the piercing cry of a woman in labour draws the camera’s attention.

The camera proceeds inside a hospital rooms – scanning the bodies of medical staff and nurses hurrying in and out of the space.

The handheld camera fixes on the woman on the bed surrounded by two nurses coaching her on how to breath...

The woman in labour lets out a loud scream – her shout is drowned in the sound of a nearby explosion – at this precise moment the hospital falls into a blackout and the noise is abruptly cut into silence.

Five seconds later the sound returns with the birth cry of a single baby.

It was all downhill from that scene forward – you might say I peeked too early. At arts school I studies architecture cause I was no good at math. In university I ended up in theatre, directed a few plays, dabbled a bit in photography, called myself an video installation artist. I made a few shorts and ended up at the Cannes spotting Monica Bellucci across the street. A few years later I got off the plane at Pearson airport and now I wander through Toronto with my camera slung over my shoulders looking for a shot of the Canadian dream.

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