Iran in Venice

The recent events in Iran seem to have increased the interest in all things Iranian--from books to exhibitions. The Venice Film Festival is featuring at least two Iranian films: the semi-documentary "Green Days"--which mixes real footage with the fictional story of a young female protagonist--and a film by the acclaimed artist Sherine Neshat, based on the novel "Women Without Men" by Shahrnush Parsipur. The latter is set in the 1950s, but Neshat in a press conference was at pains to point out its contemporary parallels:

“The images of the uprisings in the summer of 1953 have so much resemblance to what is going on this summer in Iran,” she told reporters, “and I think symbolically this film represents the Iranian struggle over time for democracy and freedom."

“People have changed, the dictators have changed in form and shape and ideology but the struggle continues.”