The Dawn Is Too Far Film Project
The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian American Life is a 55-minute documentary film that shares the stories of Iranian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area — their history, challenges, as well as the ways they have reinvented themselves and mad this region their home.
Released in 2024, the film is a collaboration between the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies and the SF State DocFilm Institute and is co-directed and co-produced by Soumyaa Behrens and Persis Karim. This film was funded with the support of the Center, a grant from the Persian Heritage Foundation and other individuals and organizations. The film documents the complex histories of Iranian immigration to the San Francisco Bay Area over fifty years. This 55-minute documentary features an ensemble cast from four distinct waves of immigration and highlights the many challenges and opportunities that have made this Northern California community both unique and multi-faceted. The film underscores the ups and downs of members of this diaspora community and the way they have coped with the ongoing and tense relationship between the US and Iranian governments, but also the ways that they have contributed to and benefited from the Bay Area's unique cultural, political and social landscape.