0:00:02 > 0:00:04This is... the superman with the broken arm.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06Mr Action Man with his broken arm.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09He fell off the rollerblades.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Daddy, just say something to your family, your mum and dad.
0:00:12 > 0:00:13No, well, you're my family...
0:00:13 > 0:00:15No, your mum and dad!
0:00:15 > 0:00:17No, I'll tape for them later.
0:00:19 > 0:00:20This is for us.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23- I need your... - Can I have the camera, please?
0:00:29 > 0:00:31MEN SHOUT
0:00:37 > 0:00:39MEN SHOUT
0:00:39 > 0:00:41I was 16 when I left Iran,
0:00:41 > 0:00:44I was involved in throwing stones at the tanks.
0:00:45 > 0:00:46My dad was in Israel.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49When he came back, within five days I was in the UK.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53CAR HORNS HONK
0:00:54 > 0:00:57They didn't have any idea where the West was.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Or what... How...
0:00:59 > 0:01:01What kind of culture was here, they just sent us
0:01:01 > 0:01:05because they didn't want us to be involved in the revolution,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09be involved in the rioting, so they done us a favour by sending us here,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12but they had no clue, they didn't know where...
0:01:12 > 0:01:14where England was, you know?
0:01:14 > 0:01:16They just sent us, they just told us to,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20"Get on that plane, go and meet your cousin," and that's it.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30When we came, we had two suitcases, about 40 kilos in each,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32one of those large ones that you get.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36My mum had put rice in it...
0:01:37 > 0:01:40About maybe 20 kilos of rice.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42And, I mean, we'd never cooked rice before.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Back home, my mum always does the cooking, right?
0:01:45 > 0:01:46One day, me and my brother said,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50"Look, we have to get rid of these, these are going off or something."
0:01:50 > 0:01:55We used to fill our pockets with rice, go along to the college,
0:01:55 > 0:01:59but on the way, we just used to empty it in the street, you know?
0:01:59 > 0:02:01We didn't know what to do, so...
0:02:02 > 0:02:04Where were you heading out to?
0:02:05 > 0:02:07- The Bot?- No, I was going to work.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09- Going to work?!- Yeah!
0:02:09 > 0:02:12It would have been, like, '99 maybe, I think.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16There's Jake there, speak of the devil. Selfie, look at that.
0:02:16 > 0:02:17Mean streak.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20- LAUGHTER - < Yes!
0:02:20 > 0:02:23I remember the first time I saw him, he was only four hours old,
0:02:23 > 0:02:25or something, and I held him,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29and his head went back when I held him...
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Hm! I remember, of course,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36it's just like yesterday he was only that size and now look at him.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44HASSAN SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:02:46 > 0:02:47Huh?
0:02:47 > 0:02:53'I never planned...to become a dad, you know, it just happened.'
0:02:53 > 0:02:57If I had known all the responsibilities
0:02:57 > 0:03:01and all the difficulties that the two cultures were going to bring...
0:03:02 > 0:03:04..I probably would have...
0:03:04 > 0:03:05- WOMAN:- Ready?
0:03:07 > 0:03:11..chosen other ways of starting a family, you know?
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Even the conversation in the house, it was never about...
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Never about the Northern Ireland football team,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24or about GAA or about any sort of, like,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28day-to-day topics that other average households would be talking about,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30other Northern Irish households would be talking about,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34so when I would go to school or when I would go out
0:03:34 > 0:03:35and play in the streets,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39the conversations happening in the group, I wasn't able to,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43like, join in or partake, even though I was the same age as them,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48even though, in a way, I had every other thing the same.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52There was these gaps, so the only thing I could really do was
0:03:52 > 0:03:58sort of build my own blocks in order to create, you know, a person.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00ROCK MUSIC PLAYS
0:04:03 > 0:04:06- Amazing, what are you... - GENERAL HUBBUB
0:04:06 > 0:04:11I brought this album from Iran, so it's 36 years old, 37 years old...
0:04:12 > 0:04:14- These photos have been in it for 37 years.- Mm!
0:04:14 > 0:04:16- My cousin...- Mm-hm.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20- Javed, my younger brother.- Mm-hm.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22I feel like a bridge between two cultures...
0:04:24 > 0:04:27..and trying to balance it is very difficult, you know?
0:04:34 > 0:04:37- BUS TANNOY:- The next stop will be for Terminal Three.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44INAUDIBLE
0:04:44 > 0:04:45Nice.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47How long is this from Tehran?
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Uh... This is about 45 minutes from Tehran.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57HAUNTING MUSIC PLAYS
0:05:11 > 0:05:13Before I came here...
0:05:14 > 0:05:17..I was expecting to really be in a foreign country.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22Walking outside of the terminal when we first arrived,
0:05:22 > 0:05:26I was looking across and taking in the smell and the sounds...
0:05:27 > 0:05:29It had been as if I had always been here.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32CAR HORNS BEEP
0:05:39 > 0:05:40< Thank you.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44We made it after five...five years!
0:05:46 > 0:05:48Well, if you were counting when I was, like, still in the womb,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50then, yeah, maybe that would be, like...
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Yeah, 25½ years, so...
0:05:53 > 0:05:56No, overall I would say it's a bit too overwhelming
0:05:56 > 0:05:59to take in at the moment...
0:05:59 > 0:06:00It's like everything I expected,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03but nothing quite at all what I expected.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09It's so open, like, it's such a breathable city...
0:06:09 > 0:06:14that I was expecting just this packed hub
0:06:14 > 0:06:18of just disorientation and, well, bewilderment
0:06:18 > 0:06:20and it's just, it's absolutely beautiful.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23And I was saying to Ben...
0:06:24 > 0:06:27.."How the hell has it taken me this long to get here?"
0:06:27 > 0:06:29Come on.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32- Godspeed!- Oh, gosh!
0:06:35 > 0:06:36He's pretty polite.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT
0:06:43 > 0:06:46HAUNTING MUSIC PLAYS
0:06:55 > 0:06:58MAN SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:06:58 > 0:07:01The community's sense of this country is just,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04you can't really find an adjective to describe it.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07CITY HUBBUB
0:07:10 > 0:07:12There's just a general sense of kindness.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18For a country that has such a young population,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20they're so welcoming and warming to outsiders,
0:07:20 > 0:07:25because this country has just been closed off, it hasn't been able...
0:07:25 > 0:07:29It's not been allowed to really expand or go anywhere else.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Everyone's talking about, "Where have you been?"
0:07:32 > 0:07:34and, "Well, what's that country like?"
0:07:34 > 0:07:39you know, anywhere which you just take for granted as a European.
0:07:39 > 0:07:40They are completely fascinated,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43just by what we have all shared when we've came here,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46it's just complete and utter fascination of...
0:07:46 > 0:07:52what it's been like to live in Iran for the past few decades.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56INAUDIBLE
0:07:59 > 0:08:01LAUGHTER, INAUDIBLE
0:08:02 > 0:08:06- Where's... Where is here? - So, this is Northern Ireland.
0:08:06 > 0:08:07- Northern Ireland?- So...
0:08:07 > 0:08:09- Yeah, it's... - A very good place?- Yeah.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Yes, my cousin living here, Dublin.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14- It's quite an expensive place... - Mm-hm...
0:08:24 > 0:08:27CHILDREN YELL PLAYFULLY
0:08:38 > 0:08:41THEY SPEAK IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:08:52 > 0:08:55HAUNTING MUSIC PLAYS
0:08:59 > 0:09:03THEY CHATTER
0:09:03 > 0:09:06HAUNTING MUSIC CONTINUES
0:09:33 > 0:09:36It's a special kind of salad called Shiraz.
0:09:41 > 0:09:42All of us...
0:09:42 > 0:09:45- Shit! - LAUGHTER
0:09:48 > 0:09:49We call it goosht koob.
0:09:50 > 0:09:51- Goosht koob?- Yeah.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54You're pushing the meat, something like that...
0:09:54 > 0:09:58- You need to push.- Yeah. And, oh!
0:09:58 > 0:10:00- LAUGHTER - OK, tell us.
0:10:02 > 0:10:03- LAUGHING:- I'm... I'm going...
0:10:03 > 0:10:05She'll tell you!
0:10:06 > 0:10:12The style of pushing this one for men is in this way.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17OK? And there is a sentence that says, when a boy do it...
0:10:18 > 0:10:22All those people say, if your penis don't move,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24it's the time to marry!
0:10:24 > 0:10:27SHE LAUGHS
0:10:30 > 0:10:32- That's good to hear. - What am I doing?
0:10:32 > 0:10:35LAUGHTER
0:10:35 > 0:10:38- Divorce!- Yeah! - LAUGHTER
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Well, what's... What's your penis doing?
0:10:41 > 0:10:43LAUGHTER
0:10:43 > 0:10:44OK, be careful.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47LAUGHTER So, am I doing it wrong?
0:10:47 > 0:10:50LAUGHTER
0:10:52 > 0:10:54OK, let's try it.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00- These here?- Yeah, and these.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03HAUNTING MUSIC PLAYS
0:11:07 > 0:11:09INAUDIBLE
0:11:16 > 0:11:17- Irish?- Yeah, yeah.
0:11:17 > 0:11:18Irish.
0:11:18 > 0:11:24- Do you want to have tea?- If you are offering, that would be great.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25No here, over here.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30- In Iran, we don't have a carpenter girl, we are the first one, I think. - Yeah.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Always, there are some more rules for girls that,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37"You should do that, you should do that, you can do that,"
0:11:37 > 0:11:41but we just want to show that we can do whatever we like!
0:11:41 > 0:11:44- They are all handmade.- Handmade.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46- Beautiful.- Yeah.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50- Lovely wood, isn't it? - Can we play?- Yes, he knows!
0:11:50 > 0:11:52SHE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:11:52 > 0:11:53No, me and him?
0:11:53 > 0:11:55- You want to play?- Yeah.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57LAUGHTER
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Why is everyone laughing? I don't see...
0:12:00 > 0:12:02I don't know why that's so funny.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04MAN SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:12:06 > 0:12:09- DRIVER:- We're going towards Afghanistan right now.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12HAUNTING MUSIC PLAYS
0:12:38 > 0:12:42It struck me last night arriving in the Mashhad
0:12:42 > 0:12:46and climbing up onto the big rock in the city...
0:12:47 > 0:12:49..and I was looking over the horizon
0:12:49 > 0:12:55and I was just thinking about my dad when he was younger than I am now
0:12:55 > 0:12:58- and him walking the streets... - MEN SING
0:12:58 > 0:13:02..and in the way of me following in his footsteps and it just...
0:13:03 > 0:13:07..became very poignant and I was...
0:13:07 > 0:13:10I just couldn't believe that I am in the same place
0:13:10 > 0:13:12that my dad was born...
0:13:12 > 0:13:16This is where he still calls home and this is where
0:13:16 > 0:13:21I should be coming home, the fact that I'm actually an Iranian.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23HAUNTING MUSIC PLAYS
0:14:03 > 0:14:08I'll never have that sort of welcome again, like that, and...
0:14:09 > 0:14:12When I was walking up the steps to see...
0:14:12 > 0:14:15And just caught the glimmer, a little glimpse of my granny,
0:14:15 > 0:14:20just by the side of the doorframe, and I peeked my head around
0:14:20 > 0:14:22and saw her eyes, that was just, like,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25"I'm home, that's my granny..."
0:14:29 > 0:14:31THEY CHATTER
0:14:31 > 0:14:32Walking in and meeting everyone else
0:14:32 > 0:14:36and just being completely overwhelmed, completely overwhelmed.
0:14:36 > 0:14:37Hi!
0:14:37 > 0:14:39'Um...
0:14:39 > 0:14:41'Not even being able to really recognise people
0:14:41 > 0:14:42'I've seen in photographs before
0:14:42 > 0:14:47'and just this embrace and looking around
0:14:47 > 0:14:51'and everyone's there for some bloody reason to see me,
0:14:51 > 0:14:52'I'm just like...'
0:14:52 > 0:14:55HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:14:55 > 0:14:58THEY CHATTER
0:14:59 > 0:15:02LAUGHTER
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Having my granny stroke my hair
0:15:12 > 0:15:14and my family's been so warm and giving...
0:15:16 > 0:15:17..the entire time, I was like...
0:15:19 > 0:15:22.."Why-Why-Why are you being so nice to me?"
0:15:24 > 0:15:28I remember telling Ilias, you know, "Can you tell her that
0:15:28 > 0:15:33"I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to come here..."
0:15:34 > 0:15:38"..and that I can't... I'm sorry, I can't speak Farsi?"
0:15:38 > 0:15:41And she was just so lovely, she just kept giving me melon,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43and kept telling me to eat.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48ALL CHATTER
0:15:51 > 0:15:54And I know I've been feeling that I should have came here earlier.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58But I would NOT have been able to take it in the way I have
0:15:58 > 0:16:00as I have at this age
0:16:00 > 0:16:04and been able to appreciate everything that's just been given...
0:16:04 > 0:16:07from all of my family members and all the people who I've met.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10HAUNTING MUSIC PLAYS
0:16:54 > 0:16:56- It's... - HE SIGHS
0:17:01 > 0:17:03If I'm being really honest, I don't know...
0:17:05 > 0:17:08..why I'm so special to them, it's very strange.
0:17:08 > 0:17:09Yeah.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13WOMEN CHATTER
0:17:17 > 0:17:18She's beautiful.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20'It was very strange not to have my dad here...'
0:17:22 > 0:17:25- VOICE BREAKING:- Like, it's been... But they had him on the...
0:17:25 > 0:17:28on the internet. And they were passing him around...
0:17:29 > 0:17:31HE SIGHS
0:17:31 > 0:17:36And when... When the phone came to me and my gran...
0:17:38 > 0:17:42It... It really felt like I was back in Belfast cos this is the...
0:17:42 > 0:17:43It's the last time we were all together.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49It's just making me realise the importance of it all, you know?
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Uh, the whole family side of things.
0:17:53 > 0:18:00# That a change is going to come for me, I believe
0:18:02 > 0:18:07# All my life Been in a summer dream
0:18:08 > 0:18:13# But this has been a cold and stark awakening
0:18:15 > 0:18:21# Are we gonna have to learn to let it go?
0:18:23 > 0:18:30# Are we gonna have to learn to let it go-o-o-o-o?
0:18:30 > 0:18:34# I said, baby, please
0:18:34 > 0:18:37# Are you ever gonna come back to me?
0:18:37 > 0:18:45# Cos lately I've been thinking you won't
0:18:45 > 0:18:48# And honestly
0:18:48 > 0:18:52# If you're just looking for the company
0:18:52 > 0:18:57# Then maybe I've got what you want... #