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The book also allowed a young generation of Iranian photographers their first chance for international exposure. As the editorial head of Fabrica, a communications thinktank owned by global fashion giant Benetton, Bossan could offer the photographers resources for refining and publishing their work. However, the photographers also risked punishment if the project ran afoul of the government, “To protect them, we decided not to show every picture online — we talked with them, and we talked with my friend, the curator and the writers, we proposed to have a list of pictures on an embargo to save them from any kind of attack from inside based on religion or politics.“ Even after the launch, some problems came up. Due to U.S. embargoes, the book was automatically denied payment service through Paypal, but the misunderstanding was resolved quickly.
The book — its ornate cover a nod to the distinctive Iranian carpets — remains for sale online only. Bossan plans to revisit the formula that made Iranian Living Rooms a success. To him, it represents a more honest look at its subject, less prone to the prejudices of a photographer who’s influenced by the imposed isolation between the regular folk of our respective cultures. “We can see this in many other countries of the world,” Bossan says. “The [common] attitude about how to represent Iran is completely false in terms of the reality.” Hossein Keshavarz's directorial debut, "Dog Sweat," has won recognition at world film festivals, but it will never be seen in his homeland. That's because the tale of rebellious youth was shot underground in Iran with Keshavarz stealing scenes in public places, filming in private homes, then placing his film on a computer hard drive, putting it in a backpack and leaving the country. "There's no (Iranian) theater that would show this," said Keshavarz, a graduate of Columbia University's film program. "Dog Sweat," which opens in US movie theaters on Friday, is the name of a type of liquor that can be bought on the Iranian black market in a country where alcohol is forbidden.

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A true history of human events would show that a far larger proportion of our acts are the results of sudden impulses and accident, than of that reason of which we so much boast.