Shirin Neshat in LA
More and more media artists are making feature films. Take Shirin Neshat, an internationally renowned visual artist known for her stunning moving image installations that address issues of exile, diaspora, gender, politics and culture. The New York-based Iranian filmmaker recently completed her first feature film, Women Without Men (Zanan-e bedun-e mardan), which she will present at the Music Hall movie theater in Beverly Hills on Friday night, April 9. The dramatic story follows four women through the complex political context of 1950s Iran, using an almost lyrical visual style to create a world that's at once very real and electric with social, cultural and political upheaval, but also surreal, with one particular historical moment creating a kind of fairy tale about general repression. Asked about the decision to move from the spaces of museums and galleries to movie theaters, Neshat says, "To be very honest, I've had a growing love affair with cinema. Part of it is the form and the power of storytelling and narrative, but it's also the relationship cinema has to its audiences. It's very, very powerful." Neshat's new film is a testament to her strong instincts: the merging of palpable drama, exquisite imagery and compelling narrative structure barely begin to describe the project, and by extension, the power of alternative approaches to cinematic form. Come meet Neshat at the Music Hall; she will participate in a Q+A after the 5:20 screening, and introduce the 7:30 screening.
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Women Without Men
Music Hall Theatre
Friday, April 9, 5:20 and 7:30
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