City of Tales

City of cities. City of gold. City of dreams. Cosmopolitan city. Time becomes dilated, the night is all there is and Los Angeles manifests as the chosen one. Streets, names and languages are switched: Los Angeles is transformed into Tehran, and instead of speaking English, the inhabitants converse in a Persian dialect – as if they’d never known anything else. They stay up all night, dancing Persian dances on Ecstasy, while shimmering lights reflect the beauty of the experience. In the rapture of night, it is easy to remember: city of angels, new city. Los Angeles becomes Tehran – if only for a few nights when the New Year is celebrated according to Persian custom. (Berlinale)