Watson Events

Shirin Neshat -- Women Without Men

Women Without Men: Iran Through the Lens of Shirin Neshat and the Words of Four Leading Iranian Fiction Writers

Iranian filmmaker Shirin Neshat will make a rare appearance in Providence this month, speaking to audiences in advance of the Rhode Island premiere of her Venice Film Festival Silver Lion Award-winning film, “Women Without Men.” 

Neshat’s film, part-allegory, part historical drama, chronicles the lives of five women living in Tehran during the British- and American-backed coup of the democratically elected government in 1953. It is based on the novel of the same title by Iranian writer Shahrnush Parsipur. 

The film’s premiere will take place on Friday, April 23 at 6:30 p.m. in 117 MacMillan Hall, 324 Brook Street, on the Brown University campus. It is the final event of a two-day festival, Women Without Men: Iran Through the Lens of Shirin Neshat and the Words of Four Leading Iranian Fiction Writers. 

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Neshat and other Iranian artists, writers, and scholars. 

The International Writers Project, developed in collaboration by Brown’s Program in Literary Arts and Watson Institute for International Studies, is the sponsor of the Women Without Men festival. All festival events are free and open to the public; more information about the events, and bios of the participants, are available at www.brown.edu/cw. More information about Neshat’s film is available at www.womenwithoutmenfilm.com.