About this collection

This collection focuses on the film Norouz: Persian Spring Festival, which was commissioned in 1961 by the San Francisco Iranian Consulate, under the direction of Dr. Majid Rahnema. It was made by Bay Area filmmaker Marie Louise Stine, and donated to the Center by her son, Peter Stine. The short documentary recounts an earlier time when Iranians were beginning to come to the Bay Area for education, shares a local story of Norooz, and features rare footage of the Stine and Rahnema families who lived next door to each other at the time of production. This collection also includes a recording of the Center's film screening and discussion event, which took place the day after Chaharshanbeh Souri in 2022. The screening was accompanied by a wonderful conversation with Peter Stine (the filmmaker’s son) and two members of the Rahnema family, Kaveh and Pouneh. This conversation was a rare opportunity for three friends to reconnect after more than sixty years over shared memories of their childhoods and to reflect a different time when Iran and the US were on friendlier terms. We are grateful to Peter Stine for donating this film.