‘Kabul House’ in Iran: A cultural bridge between Iranians, Afghans

Iranian documentary film ‘Kabul House’ by Masoud Kargar, about an Afghan restaurant in Tehran, has aimed to bridge the cultural gap between Iranian and Afghan people.  

The film borrows its title from the restaurant, which was established by an Afghan family in Tehran to offer Afghan cuisine.

“I learned about the family and I gradually found their moral characters interesting,” Kargar told the Persian service of ILNA, adding, “Many people go to the restaurant not only to taste Afghan food but also to meet the family.”

“Iranian people most have met Afghans from the working class and they know little about an Afghan artist or painter or a literary Afghan family; in ‘Kabul House’ we wanted to introduce people from this class. We wanted to tell Iranian people that there are many cultural figures from Afghanistan living in our country; we wanted to teach them to co-exist with these people and learn about their culture,” Kargar said.   

“Despite a negative outlook on Afghans and people from the East as a whole, Afghans prefer to immigrate and choose to live in Iran because they felt a strong cultural affinity with Iranians Kargar mentioned. 

MM/MM