“A Flame of Fire: A Story of My Own Identity and What It, Means to Be A Minority in Iran” by Khalil E. Nikkhessal is preparing to hit the big screen by releasing its Movie Treatment
A three-act summary of this excellent book has been published in preparation for its movie adaptation. Movie Treatment is one of the first steps in writing a screenplay, and it aims to provide a summary of your work’s screenplay idea and give you the Hollywood style of fame that only a few authors have experienced.
Khalil E. Nikkhessal’s “A Flame of Fire: A Story of My Own Identity and What It, Means to Be A Minority in Iran” presents the story of Khalil, who faces prejudice from a young age but rises above his oppressors through education. He faces challenges that send him out of his homeland for good. Khalil grew up and experienced prejudice in Yazd, Iran, before his family moved to Shiraz. He studied in Germany but returned to Iran to work. He created a company but experienced challenges from his partners, the influential majority, divided attention, and had to sell his company. He moved to the USA.
Author Mr. Nikkhessal was born in Yazd, Iran, in 1941, into a family with a brother and three sisters. His understanding of his place in the country’s culture was formed early, from observing the treatment of the elders in his family by the Muslim community and from the mistreatment he received in school. That did not deter him, however, from graduating from high school, immigrating to Germany, learning the language, and ultimately receiving a master’s degree in electronics from the Technical University in Frankfurt. After a series of jobs in that country, he returned to Iran, his homeland, to establish a family and a business.
Interspersed in the narrative of Mr. Nikkhessal’s personal life are insightful reflections on Iranian culture, chronicling historical milestones as well as perspectives on the revolution, the Shah, and the ongoing victimization of the Bahá’í. Yet, with all of the upheavals, Mr. Nikkhessal persevered, finding work as a self-employed electronics repairman after being fired from a job because of his religious convictions. He went on to hire unemployed Bahá’í and successfully build a business literally from the ground up out of a workshop in his parents’ house.
What transpires throughout his next 30 professional years is a series of business triumphs and, unfortunately, defeats. Mr. Nikkhessal captivates the reader with the innermost details of each business: the people, the work, the drama, the ups and downs, and, perhaps most importantly, the impact on his body, mind, and spirit, which ultimately drove him to leave his beloved birthplace and relocate to the United States with his wife.
“A Flame of Fire: A Story of My Own Identity and What It, Means to Be A Minority in Iran” is a story of perseverance. It is divided into three parts: the early memories, his life during the formative period of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, and the highs and lows of his life.
In life, there’s no one-way road; there is always a corner, an intersection, a turn, and a lot more that tell us we can take a different path. The scars from previous wounds will never fade and will always be there to remind us of the pain and its lessons.