In solidarity with the women of Iran, The Polygon is running a series of films that highlight the repression faced by female citizens of the country and how they choose to define their own futures.
Entitled Woman, Life, Liberty: Feminist Cinema from Iran, the gallery is playing cinema from this series every Thursday evening in November starting at 7 p.m. Three of the features are Persian language (with English subtitles) and three are debut films by female directors.
Kicking off the series on Nov. 3 is Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut feature A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014), which has been promoted as “the first Iranian vampire western.” The arthouse horror flick stars a nameless, skateboarding, chador-cloaked “girl” (Sheila Vand) who prowls the streets at night, feasting on badly behaved men.
Next, on Nov. 10, is Appropriate Behaviour (2014), directed by and starring Desiree Akhavan. The Polygon’s marketing manager Michael Mann calls it “a sex-positive comedy that follows a young Iranian woman in Brooklyn who balances being bisexual and being from a traditional Iranian family.”
Nov. 17 is a double-ticket, starting with the acclaimed The Day I Became A Woman (2000) directed by Marziyeh Meshkini. “It is a beautiful, Fellini-esque triptych of three stages of a woman’s life,” Mann said. That’s followed by short film The House is Black (1962), the only film directed by trailblazing feminist Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad.
Ending the series on Nov. 24 is Jafar Panahi’s Offside (2006), which is banned in Iran. Partially shot during the actual game it depicts, the film follows a handful of women who have separately dressed in disguise and snuck into a critical soccer match between Iran and Bahrain, where women aren’t allowed.
Admission for the viewings is by donation. Find more details on The Polygon's website.
