Women Without Men

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.