Women Without Men

Winner of the Silver Lion for Best Director at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, this first feature film by acclaimed visual artist Shirin Neshat explores the lives of five women during the traumatic era in early fifties Iran. Neshat, recognized for her haunting images of Islam, delves into the social and psychological dimensions of her characters as a British and American backed coup topples a democratically elected government. With subtlety and poetry, Women Without Men reveals the impact of historical and religious forces on females across the spectrum of Iranian society.  There was great expectation for this debut film by Neshat, perhaps the most renown contemporary artist to emerge from Iran, and Variety emphatically states this “much-anticipated pic has striking moments comparable to the best of Neshat’s potent imagery.” Following the screening, Paley Center President/CEO Pat Mitchell hosts a conversation with the filmmaker.