“Alborz: We Climb Mountains” Free Film Screening

On Saturday, October 28 at 5 p.m., join the UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute (QI) in Atkinson Hall for a free screening of “Alborz: We Climb Mountains” from award-winning Iranian-American documentary filmmaker Maryam Sepehri.

“Alborz: We Climb Mountains” tells the story of Alborz High School, founded in 1873 as an American Presbyterian missionary institution in Tehran, Iran. The film tracks the school’s rise to an elite institution for boys, telling its history during tumultuous years in Iran’s modern history from the perspectives of its graduates, teachers and archival recordings of its famed director, Dr. Mohammad-Ali Mojtahedi. 

With humor, fondness and nostalgia, the documentary explores a bygone era and questions what has been lost since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and why so many bright and promising young Iranians sound critical of current policies and administrative mishandling of what was once one of the nation’s top educational institutions. 

Watch the trailer here.

Biography

Maryam Sepehri has directed several documentaries to critical acclaim and authored a number of short stories. After earning her medical degree, she worked in a laboratory before leaving to pursue filmmaking full time. Sepehri has both her B.A. in filmmaking and an M.A. in photography. Her work explores issues of human expression and learning. To learn more, visit her website. 

Note: This event is in-person only. This program has been made possible through the support of the Roghieh Chehreazad Endowed Funds for Persian Arts and is presented in collaboration with Persian Cultural Center of San Diego and the Association of Iranian American Professionals.