Film Projects

"The Dawn Is Too Far" Film Project

"The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian­ American Life" is a documentary film that is currently in production and will be released in 2023. 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, made possible with support from the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), the Nasiri Foundation and the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, documents the complex histories of Iranian immigration to the San Francisco Bay Area over fifty years. This 60-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 benefitted from the Bay Area's unique cultural, political and social landscape.