Persian Lessons
2020 film by Vadim Perelman
Persian Lessons (German: Persischstunden) is a 2020 historical drama film directed by Vadim Perelman. The film was partially inspired by the short story Erfindung einer Sprache by German writer Wolfgang Kohlhaase.
It was selected as the Belarusian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards. However, the film was disqualified by the Academy, due to the majority of those involved not coming from Belarus.
Plot
To avoid being shot like the rest of the truckload of Jews travelling through France, Gilles, a Belgian Jew who speaks French and German, tells the German soldiers he is Persian, having acquired a Persian book, despite having no knowledge of the Persian language. They bring him to a nearby concentration camp where Koch, the deputy commandant, asks to be taught the Persian language. Calling himself Reza Joon, Gilles works for Koch in the kitchen, and invents "Persian" words to fool Koch and stay alive.
Koch hopes to learn 2,000 words in two years. He intends to visit Tehran after the war to start a restaurant. Section Leader Max warns Koch that Reza is lying about being Persian.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Persian Lessons” as 2020 film by Vadim Perelman. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 2020 film by Vadim Perelman. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q83487969. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 5 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Persian Lessons” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.