 Venice, Italy – Shirin Neshat, Iranian photographer and video director won the Best Director Silver Lion for her directorial debut “Women Without Men” at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. The film follows four women living through Iran’s foreign-sponsored 1953 coup which overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh. Neshat and her entire cast dressed in green and held peace signs on the red carpet, showing solidarity with the Iranian reformist movement and demonstrators. Neshat pointed to the film’s clear parallels to the recent protests in Iran.
“This film speaks to the people of Iran fighting to find democracy and it speaks to the government of Iran,” said of the film Neshat. “I plead to this government to give the people what they should have—basic human rights, freedom and democracy. Make peace with the people of Iran.” Neshat’s other works, Shadow under the Web (1997), Turbulent (1998), Rapture (1999) and Soliloquy (1999) have also won international acclaim.
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