Women Without Men

  • 97'
  • Germany
  • 2009
With her first feature, the renowned visual artist Shirin Neshat was at once a winner: Women Without Men was awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for the best directing. The Iranian-born Neshat, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 17, filmed a novel by Shahrnush Parsipur that had been banned in the 1990s in Iran. The story is set against the backdrop of the CIA-supported coup of 1953 when the democratically chosen government was toppled and the despot Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was able to return.
The magic-realistic film follows four women who meet up regularly in an orchard where they have parties, sing and can talk freely about any subject they like. As can be expected from a visual artist, Women Without Men is visually extraordinary. Soft colours have occasionally been added to the meticulously framed black-and-white shots.

  • 97'
  • Germany
  • 2009
Director
Shirin Neshat
Countries of production
Germany, Austria, France
Year
2009
Festival Edition
IFFR 2010
Length
97'
Medium
HDcam
Original title
Zanan bedoone mardan
Language
Persian
Producers
Susanne Marian, Martin Gschlacht, Philippe Bober, Shahram Karimi
Production Companies
Essential Filmproduktion, Coop99 Filmproduktion, Société Parisienne de Production
Sales
Coproduction Office (oud)
Screenplay
Shoja Azari, Shirin Neshat
Cinematography
Martin Gschlacht
Editor
George Cragg, Sam Neave, Jay Rabinowitz, Julia Wiedwald, Patrick Lambertz, Christof Schertenleib
Production Design
Shahram Karimi, Katharina Wöppermann
Sound Design
Uve Haussig
Music
Abbas Bakhtiari, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Cast
Orsi Tóth
Local Distributor
EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Website
http://womenwithoutmen.blog.indiepixfilms.com/
Director
Shirin Neshat
Countries of production
Germany, Austria, France
Year
2009
Festival Edition
IFFR 2010
Length
97'
Medium
HDcam
Original title
Zanan bedoone mardan
Language
Persian
Producers
Susanne Marian, Martin Gschlacht, Philippe Bober, Shahram Karimi
Production Companies
Essential Filmproduktion, Coop99 Filmproduktion, Société Parisienne de Production
Sales
Coproduction Office (oud)
Screenplay
Shoja Azari, Shirin Neshat
Cinematography
Martin Gschlacht
Editor
George Cragg, Sam Neave, Jay Rabinowitz, Julia Wiedwald, Patrick Lambertz, Christof Schertenleib
Production Design
Shahram Karimi, Katharina Wöppermann
Sound Design
Uve Haussig
Music
Abbas Bakhtiari, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Cast
Orsi Tóth
Local Distributor
EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Website
http://womenwithoutmen.blog.indiepixfilms.com/