Mehran Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir Alfred Mehran, was an Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport from 26 August 1988 until July 2006, when he was hospitalized.
Nasseri alleged that he was expelled from Iran in 1977 for protests against the Shah and after a long battle, involving applications in several countries, was awarded refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Belgium.
This allegedly permitted residence in many other European countries. However, this claim was disputed, with investigations showing that Nasseri was never expelled from Iran.
Nasseri’s story provided the inspiration for the 1993 French film Tombés du ciel, starring Jean Rochefort, internationally released under the title Lost in Transit.
His autobiography was published as a book, The Terminal Man, in 2004. Nasseri’s story inspired the 2004 film The Terminal.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Nationality
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir Alfred Mehran, was an Iranian. Nasseri was born in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company settlement located in Masjed Soleiman, Iran. His father was an Iranian doctor working for the company.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Books
In 2004 Nasseri’s autobiography, The Terminal Man was published. It was co-written by Nasseri with British author Andrew Donkin and was reviewed in The Sunday Times as being “profoundly disturbing and brilliant”
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Education
He arrived in the United Kingdom in September 1973, to take a three-year course in Yugoslav studies at the University of Bradford.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri Movies
Nasseri’s story provided the inspiration for the 1993 French film Tombés du ciel, starring Jean Rochefort, internationally released under the title Lost in Transit. The short story
“The Fifteen-Year Layover”, written by Michael Paterniti and published in GQ and The Best American Non-Required Reading, chronicles Nasseri’s life. Alexis Kouros made a documentary about him, Waiting for Godot at De Gaulle (2000).
Nasseri’s story was the inspiration for the contemporary opera Flight by British composer Jonathan Dove, and was premiered at the Glyndebourne Opera House in 1998. The flight would go on to win the Helpmann Awards at the Adelaide Festival Theatre in March 2006.
Glen Luchford and Paul Berczeller made the Here to Where mockumentary (2001), also featuring Nasseri. Hamid Rahmanian and Melissa Hibbard made a documentary called Sir Alfred of Charles De Gaulle Airport (2001).
Nasseri was reportedly the inspiration behind the character Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), from the 2004 Steven Spielberg film The Terminal; however, neither publicity materials, nor the DVD “special features” nor the film’s website mentions Nasseri’s situation as an inspiration for the film.
Despite this, in September 2003, The New York Times noted that Steven Spielberg had bought the rights to his life story as the basis for The Terminal.