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This film opens on June 10 at Laemmle's
Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills CA 90211
Levantine Cultural Center held a special preview screening of Kayvan Mashayekh's
"The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam" on May 26, 7:30 pm
at the Harmony Gold Theatre.
Following the screening, director Kayvan Mashayekh participated in a panel discussion with writer/producer of "Frailty" Tom Huckabee, international vocal star Andy Madadian, and vocalist Shani, moderated by Jordan Elgrably. A reception followed. This moving feature seen through the eyes of its twelve-year-old protagonist raised essential questions about roots, identity, storytelling and the meaning of family ties.
Kamran is a twelve-year-old boy in the present day who discovers that his ancestor is the 11th-century mathematician, astronomer and poet of Persia, Omar Khayyam. The story has been passed down in his family from one generation to another, and now it is his responsibility to keep the story alive for future generations. His dying brother, Nader, begins telling him the story as we flash back from the modern day to the epic past where the relationship between Omar Khayyam, Hassan Sabbah (the original creator of the sect of Assassins) and their mutual love for a beautiful woman separate them from their eternal bond of friendship.
Throughout the telling of the story from Nader to Kamran, we periodically return to the present day to reveal the frailty of life and how stories such as ours easily fade with the passing of each generation.
When Nader dies, Kamran cannot contain his curiosity and sets off on a journey to find a book known as "The Great Omar," which was bound nearly 100 years ago and was a lost treasure on the Titanic. He comes across the Heiress (beautifully portrayed by Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave) of a mansion in England whose grandfather was the famous bookbinder who created "The Great Omar." It is here, that Kamran learns about the importance of how the poetry of one man 1000 years ago has touched the lives of millions who still echo his verses from one generation to another.
Kamran
continues his journey to reach his grandfather to learn the end of the
story. It is finally revealed to him that it wasn't Omar's poetry that
made him important, it was the poetry of his life. Hence, be proud of
your heritage because it is the stories in our past that make our future
more meaningful.
Omar Khayyam Commentary by Tom Huckabee
Omar Khayyam lived an outer life of great productivity and renown, in the service of an absolute monarch and under the watchful eye of a strict religious authority. He published nothing but scholarly articles on astronomy and mathematics during his lifetime. His private stash of poems is a map of his inner world, where he roamed without restriction or fear, free to shout suppositions that would have meant death if whispered in public. The message of his Rubaiyat is profoundly simple, devoid of facts but full of meaning, effortlessly erotic and joyously literate. It is philosophical but promotes no particular system. Yet, some have seen it as a mandate for agnostic hedonism and as an esoteric path to Allah. It is antiquarian, slightly futuristic and wholly present, appealing equally to seekers of all ages and both genders. Like an ancient underground stream, connecting the world's religions, races and cultures, it flows just as smoothly in Chinese, French and Hungarian as it does in the original Farsi. It can be used to seduce a lover, soothe the afflicted or bury your father. An idiot can understand it, but a genius may not. Only by the grace of God did Omar's Rubaiyat survive, to show us just how bright some candles burned during the so-called dark ages.
Harmony
Gold Theatre, 7655 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles 90046.
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