Portuguese Appreciate ’Flying Carpet’

Portuguese Appreciate ’Flying Carpet’

Iranian hand-woven carpets

The documentary ’Flying Carpet’ was warmly welcomed by the Portuguese audience in its recent screening in Iran’s Cultural Center in Lisbon.
A joint production of Iran and Portugal, the documentary is themed on Persian hand-woven carpet.
Speaking at the event, Iranian Ambassador to Portugal, Rasoul Sahabi said, “The film is an influential and unique work about the Persian carpet.“
He expressed hope that Persian rugs will gain their due status after an international debut of the documentary, Fars News Agency reported.
The film’s director Juan Mario Girlo, head of Portugal Directors’ Society, and Houman Atyabi, the film’s producer also spoke at the event.
Commenting on the production process, Atyabi said, “The documentary was produced in four stages. We conducted research in the first two stages which began in 2006 in Shiraz, Isfahan, Kashan and Tehran.“
He added that a Portuguese team undertook the third stage in that country, while the final stage, which dealt with the connection between carpet designs and psychology, was completed in Sigmund Freud’s house in London. Freud was an Austrian physician who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology.
“The final section also features the connection between Persian carpet and western culture,“ he further said.
Atyabi pointed out that the film’s main feature is that is looks at Iranian carpet form a western perspective and successfully interacts with the foreign audience.
Commenting on technical aspects of the film, he said, “We also sought the views of experts of hand-woven carpet, and hope the film would serve as a reference in the history of Iran’s carpet.“
Persian carpet is not just a handicraft, however, it is a unique art which should be dealt with at an international level, he concluded.