Chrysalis

 "Chrysalis" is a film by Hossein Khandan, I acted in 1996.

"Iranian filmmaker Hossein Khandan was so drawn to Chicago when he first visited in 1994 that he decided to stay.
Khandan was in town for the screening of “Sara,” an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House” on which Khandan worked as production designer and first AD. “Sara” was playing in the Siskel Film Center’s Festival of Films from Iran.
After the festival, Khandan applied to Columbia College, enrolled, and he’s lived here ever since.
Khandan’s own film, “Chrysalis,” is having its world premiere at the Film Center this week in the Films of the Iranian Diaspora series.
Although Khandan shot the 30-minute “Chrysalis” in 1996, “The topic is so fresh it seems like I made it yesterday,” he said.
“Chrysalis” stars Ezzat Goushegir as an Iranian teacher who takes a job in a fellow Iranian’s beauty salon, where she is forced to hide her language and culture to avoid alienating the American clientele.
The chrysalis of the title represents the cocoon of isolation at latent transformation that Khandan sees as characterizing the immigration experience."

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