From Paris to Tehran: French-Iranian playwright explores grief of exile in '4,211 km'

PERSPECTIVE © FRANCE 24

"4,211 km" is the distance between Tehran and Paris. It's also the title of a new play by French-Iranian director Aila Navidi showing at France's famed Avignon theatre festival next month. The show centres around a young woman named Yalda Farhadi, born in France to Iranian dissidents who never give up their dream of returning to their home country. Navidi says the play is almost completely autobiographical and that writing it felt "very necessary – like an emergency." More than 40 years after the Islamic revolution, she says her parents' generation has more hope than ever of one day going back, particularly since the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini nine months ago.