There is a place in Tehran where you learn whether you’re a man or still a boy. At least that’s how a member of the staff at a home where several dozens of men have found shelter to escape life on the street describes it. They all share a problem with addiction, injected heroin and cocaine, lived on garbage and left their families. In the home they want to get back on their feet, detoxify and learn to lead abstinent lives. Mohammad Kart is there when Hossein is admitted, a young man who has been mainlining for two years and promises to obey the rules. “I’ll remind you in 3 days.” Cold turkey comes next. Hossein and several others squirm in a room, sweat, have spasms. At last he is welcomed in a festive ceremony. He is even asked to play in the home’s football team, who are preparing for a prominent opponent.
Kart combines light episodes of community and hope with individual trips to nocturnal shelters on the outskirts of the Iranian capital. Images of misery alternate with images of sunrays shining into the dormitory in the morning, while bracing music is to lend support at the start of a new day.
Carolin Weidner
