Iranian Cinema Evening

Shirin Neshat & Shoja Azari

Land of Dreams (2021), directed by Shirin Neshat & Shoja Azari – 110 minsLand of dreams follows the story of an America in a near future that has closed its borders becoming more insular than ever.

Simin is an Iranian American woman on a journey to discover what it means to be a free American. She works for the Census Bureau which, in an effort to control its citizens, has begun a program to record their dreams. Unaware of this devious plot, Simin is torn between her compassion for those whose dreams she is recording and a truth she must find within.

“The whole film is about this Iranian woman mediating between her Iranian past and the American culture she was raised in. But it is also about mediating between her interior life and external life, and dream versus reality. There’s a lot to do with crossing boundaries. Simin is a very strange character who doesn’t really belong here or there. For me, it was an interesting idea to develop. For example, her relationship to the Iranian community is only through social media, where she uploads videos of herself, but social media also furthers this distance. If you speak Farsi, you will understand that she has an accent, so she’s not really fluent in the language. But she’s also not quite American.” Shirin Neshat, Art Review article, 2021

Language: English, Farsi (with English subtitles)

Looking for Oum Kulthum (2017), directed by Shirin Neshat & Shoja Azari – 90 minsA film within a film, Shirin Neshat’s Looking for Oum Kulthum tells the story of Mitra, an ambitious Iranian director, mother and wife in her late 40s, who is working on her dream project: a film about the life of legendary Egyptian singer and diva Oum Kulthum (1904-1975), whose music and extraordinary personality are still loved by millions of Middle Easterners.

Mitra’s film explores the struggles, sacrifices and the price of Oum Kulthum’s success as a female artist in a male-dominated society. However, having left her family behind for her career and in the efforts to capture the essence of Oum Kulthum as a myth, a woman and an artist, Mitra’s own struggles blend with those of the singer as she finds herself caught in an emotional and artistic breakdown.

Languages: Arabic, Persian, German and English (with English subtitles)

Film timings:

6.30pm-8.20pm – Land of Dreams.

Short break

8.40pm – 10.15pm – Looking for Oum Kulthum

Tickets:PWYC Tickets: £7.50 / Solidarity ticket £12 / Free tickets available

Ticket info: We want to keep prices to a minimum so as many people can come as possible, so we are offering a pay what you can system, as well as solidarity tickets for those who are able to pay a little more.

Free tickets are also available for those with low income, outsider artists, asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants.

BEAF Arts Co is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our ticket sales go back into supporting our work, community and artists.

Refunds: If you can no longer make this event, then please contact us a week in advance of the event to request one. Refunds after then will not be accepted and please note Eventbrite’s fee cannot be refunded.

Access info: B.A.D. is on the ground floor and has wide doors for access. We are currently fundraising to build accessible toilets, in the meantime accessible toilets are available in the sovereign centre.

Getting to us: If you are coming by foot or by bus, take the M2 bus and get off near Boscanova if coming from Southbourne or next to Aldi if coming from Poole and Bournemouth. Walk along the high-street and please come to the main entrance at B.A.D. directly opposite Costa.

If you are coming by car we would recommend parking in the sovereign centre car park, then come to the main entrance on the high-street.

Pokesdown for Boscombe train station is a 15-20 minute walk from B.A.D. along Christchurch Road.