Friendship The Documentary | Refaghat, Yek Mostanad
A documentary regarding the artistic life of Googoosh, a living legendary Iranian singer and actress

Googoosh is a cultural symbol who had to spend two decades of her life in silence!

This documentary takes a different look at the beginning of a friendship in distant years, the friendship and the story of Googoosh and Martik and the facts and unspoken words of the years before and after the revolution in their own words.

"Googoosh is a legendary Iranian singer and actress whose career spans over 60 years across music and film, with her first appearance on stage being when she was just 3 years old. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she played and starred in numerous successful blockbuster films and in 1968, she released her first single which is the highest selling record in Iranian history. Googoosh quickly became the most prolific performing and recording artist in Iran, releasing 150 records between 1968 and 1979. After the Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979, which banned women from singing in public, she was arrested and imprisoned in Tehran under house arrest for 21 years. Since her return to the stage in the summer of 2000, she has sold out concerts all around the globe and has performed at some of the biggest and most respected venues in the world including Madison Square Garden in New York, Air Canada Centre in Toronto, The Royal Albert Hall in London, and endless others." (hollywoodbowl.com)

"She is the best, I can't say why!"

The documentary begins with the voice of Behzad Blour at the beginning of Googoosh's concert and continues with an interview with Martik, Iranian singer and an old and close friend of Googoosh.

Martik talks about Googoosh's singing and the 2500th anniversary celebrations of the Persian Empire. One noticeable thing is the appearence of Farah Diba, the wife of the deposed Shah of Iran, in this cultural documentary.

Then Shohreh Aghdashloo, the internationally known Iranian-American actress, tells about Googoosh's trip to Paris and then we hear Googoosh's own voice. Googoosh recalls the memory of her meeting with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. She explains how anxious she was when asking the Shah of Iran for permission to take those without a military exemption to Paris with her as members of her music band.

The Shah allows Martik and the other members to go to Paris with Googoosh. Mehdi Zakaei, the director of the Javanan magazine, also recalls the Paris concert.

According to Martik, Googoosh sings songs in French in her concert in Paris and receives attention. Shohreh Aghdashloo also talks about her travels with Googoosh in the documentary.


Cast: Aref, Farzan Deljou, Hamid Shabkhiz, Hassan Shamaizadeh, Houshang Touzie, Koji Zadori, Manouchehr Cheshmazar, Masoud Fardmanesh, Mahshid Bozorgi Rajie, Mehdi Zokaie, Nazanin Bonyadi, Shohreh Aghdashlou, Vartan Avanesian, Farah Pahlavi

Camera: Jens Eser, Nima Darabi, Alex Ferra

Archive: Manoto, BBC