 All right, we're talking with Aarash Hamedian, who is appearing in a new film called Voiceless. It will be presented at the Rome Independent Film Festival next month in April. And Aarash, first let's start a little bit with this week, of course, Iran won its first Oscar, first Academy Award for a foreign language film for the movie A Separation. What did you think when you saw Ashkar Farhadi get up there and accept it? It was so nice, you know. It was like a national celebration, all the people were happy. And also, many of them were proud because this movie showed another part of Iran because in many movies, in different festivals, we always saw a view of the villages and people were alone, you know, they were praying to the God or, you know, they never showed, even if they showed, it was less that this movie showed another side of the society, the intellectual side, the social, you know, problems and what they, people, how they feel, how they think. And it was very good from Ashkar Farhadi and his group. And it was nice that he said, let's put politics aside and focus on how 2,500 years of Iran's history and its rich culture surpasses all politics. What do you mean? It was wonderful that he was able to remind the world and the millions of people that were watching, that we, as human beings, need to rise above the politics of what's going on in the world with our countries and focus on our humanity. I thought that message was... Because this movie was not a political movie. Right. It was about the politics of marriage, actually, between men and women, but that's a separate issue. We are artists and whatever we do, if it has a big success, politicians, because they have a power, so they want to put something in it and they want to stick it to something and say, okay, it was political or something like that. But everyone see the movie and anyone see the movie can prove that it was a very good social drama and it was justice that he get the Oscar. Yeah. Well, now let's talk briefly a little bit about your new movie, Voiceless. Tell us a little bit. In real life, you're an actual student in Greece and in the movie you play an Iranian who has come to Greece, so tell us a little bit about your role. Okay. This movie is about an Iranian actor who is not a political refugee and even not an economical immigrant. He just came out from Iran with Bambiza, like many people who do it, and he want to be an actor. So he faced many things, many problems and many, many new stories in new society that he came. And in the movie we see that during his life in Greece, many directors give him the same role, a same role who is like a Middle Eastern role and be the same situation, psychologically and socially. So he start after playing in many roles and repeating it, he start to have a problem with it. And it came to his life, this reputation. And so he start sometimes to react after a year to react for what happened for him, and we see how he managed to continue it. I was going to ask you a little bit about the role you had before, Rotoguantanimo. Tell us a little bit how you got that role, how did you get involved with that? The American soldier who was a Farsi speaker, who translated between the prisoners and the American troops. Yes. It was like a miracle that I played in that movie, because I didn't know anything about this movie. I was a student in south of Iran, and when the crew came, I just heard that professional crew came to shoot movie, and it's very professional. I went to the camp and start to talk with some people and said, you know, who were from the movie crew? And I told them, I am a student, I am a young actor, I love cinema and theater. And if it's possible, I want to be your crew and see how a professional crew shoot movie. And I think they saw that I am interested. And they spoke with the producer and he said, okay, you can come. And I start to go there. And since first day, I was, you know, watching them. And I became friends with them. And I could speak English. They got help from me sometimes. And after a few days, the assistant of the sons had a problem. And they asked me if I like to be assistant of the son. And I said, yes, why not? And the son, I was Stuart Wilson also. And Stuart Wilson, you should point out who Stuart Wilson is. Yeah, not who Stuart Wilson is. Yes, Stuart Wilson was the son of Harry Potter and many great movies. Not just any sound man. This was Stuart Wilson. Yes, professional. And, you know, when I started working with Stuart, I said, you know, you tell me anything you accept the things that you say me to do. I want to learn more. And he liked that too much. And we became friends. And one day, I spoke with Michael Bitterbottom, the director of the movie. And I asked him. I told him, like, I like to play in your movies one day. I don't know when, but it's my vision. It will be my pleasure to play for you one day. And he was smiling and I said, ha, ha, yes, son, OK. And the time spent after two days in the break, Michael, the director came to me and he said, all right, you can act. You can act. He had a tea, you know, Iranian tea. And I was so surprised. Yeah, it was so great surprise for me. And I played the role as an American soldier who can speak Persian. And I translated between prisoners and American jurors. And it was a great experience for me. And that experience gave me more motivation to find my way to catch up, to catch up my goals, my purpose. And after that, I know I was working hard. Always, you know, if you are a hard worker, definitely you will see the results one day. It could be sooner or later. But we have an expression in Persian. We say, I can't translate it exactly, but it was like. Persistence. Persistence. Persistence pays if you want to summarize it. Persistence pays. Well, so why don't we finish off with a little give any advice for English learners or people who are watching you and learning English? Yeah, tell us about how you learned English. I just, because I was an English learner when I was in Iran, and still I learned, you always learn. And when I was in Iran, I started to learn English when I was like eight, nine years old. But seriously, I started when I was 17 years old. And I got many materials from the VOA program. That time, there was not like internet or YouTube, the programs, websites. It was just a radio program and also the tapes and CDs and the books in the bookshops, which was from VOA. And some of my teachers, I never forget them, introduced me to this program. And I start to work on it, reading the books, grammar, vocabulary, learning, writing different texts, learn how to write a text, learn how to read. And I improve my vocabulary, vocabulary knowledge. And I just wanted to say to the students and English learners in Iran and anywhere in the world that they shouldn't be disappointed and, you know, like bored to learn English. They shouldn't say, it's difficult. I can't do it. Because any time if you start, first, any time, never it's late. And if you start and try hard, and if you are motivated and you believe to yourself, definitely you can do it with hard trying and, you know, repeating, because English is a very powerful instrument. If you learn it well, you can communicate with many people. It opens a new window of life to you. And anywhere you go, you can communicate with people. Because anywhere you go, there are people who can speak English. So it's better to learn very good English with good pronunciation, work on it, and see what happens. Just learn a few months, and then you will see. You will see you understand new language. Now you can read new stories with new cultures. You can communicate with people. So I just want to add a small member of the Society of English Learners to, it's not like advice. It's just like a suggestion, because people know what they do. It's their decision. But definitely with learning English and trying, they can do it. And thank you from you guys and VOA program, because they make very beautiful program. And it's very modern method that makes it more easier to learn English without many details or old methods. So if they follow this method, I think it's not a commercial, I'd say. How much do you pay this time? Yeah, well, persistence pays. I mean, I think what you said earlier. It's my experiences. So I think definitely with following this program, they can learn many things. And as much as they put, they try, they get the consequence, the result. Well, Arash, thank you so much. We wish you all the best with your acting career, and keep in touch. And we'll talk to you again soon. Khadar hafiz. Khadar hafiz. Thank you. Good night. Good night.