In the introduction to SHIRIN NESHAT, a handsome and provocative monograph of the Iranian-American photographer and filmmaker published by Rizzoli International Publications, renowned art critic and historian Arthur C. Danto offers a Rosetta Stone translation of Neshat’s unique visual sensibility and artistic impulse. Quoting the 19th century German philosopher Hegel no less, he describes the concept of “absolute spirit”: a meditation on art, philosophy and revealed religi...

  Following sold out screenings at New Directors/New Films Festival, the Spring film showcase that concluded yesterday, arthouse specialty distributor IndiePix will release acclaimed Iranian video/photographer Shirin Neshat’s directorial debut WOMEN WITHOUT MEN. The film opens theatrically in Los Angeles on April 9, Washington, DC  on April 30 followed by a mid-May release in New York. A national platform rollout continues with home video and digital release slated for the fall. ...

  WOMEN WITHOUT MEN (Shirin Neshat)  For most people, a trip to the cinema is a welcome escapism from the harshness of the world and its problems. For others, films with political subjects or contexts are sought out for a population hungry to engage and feeling starved for perspective and analysis. While New Directors New Films is not an overtly political affair, it is hard to avoid the powerful political discourses that careen through some of the films in this year’s pro...

Two War Films, "Cold Tears", 2004, and "Night Bus", 2007. The war between Sadam Hussein's Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran lasted nearly a decade, from 1980 to 1988, and was treated as a kind of side-show in the western press, but it was the main event in that part of the world and has provided fodder for countless Iranian films ever since. Two of these were presented in the current survey. Dated 2004 and 2007 these films show that nearly 20 years down the line this war is still far from a ...