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NYWIFT Screening Series: The Mist, January 25th @ 7pm

The January screening for the NYWIFT (New York Women in Film & Television) Screening Series are two documentaries by Iranian-American filmmaker, and NYWIFT member, Maryam Habibian. These films open our eyes to a reality that is far more complex than generally portrayed in the Western media, and reveal the contradictions that are part of life in Iran.

The Mist
The Mist explores life and culture in present day Iran through a series of interviews with Iranian women and young people. Behind the hejab (Islamic covering or veil) and behind closed doors, Iranians live their second, private lives. Despite the limitations imposed by society, Iranian youth create their own culture, pushing dress codes, taking new occupations and choosing their own partners. And women function as successful, creative and autonomous beings, making up a large portion of the work force and over half of the university population, owning their own businesses, keeping their maiden names and serving in Parliament. Women poets also play an important role in this feature documentary, with works that speak directly to the dualities at the heart of the film.

In the short, Forugh Farrokhzad: Young Revolutionary Poetess of Tehran, we meet Persian poetry’s most influential and controversial woman, who broke through the imprisoning patriarchal ideals of womanhood with her earthy, yet
militant poetry. A writer of the senses, she made public the revolutionary cries of an enraged artist. Habibian began work on the documentary after she was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to research Farrokhzad’s poetry and its significance to the Intellectual Milieu of Tehran during the Pahlavi Era.

The screening takes place Tuesday, January 25th, at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue at 2nd Street, from 7-9 pm.
The ticket price is $7 for Arts Engine/Media Rights members. Register through the NYWIFT website, at the attached URL. Or, you can pay, in cash only, at the Anthology Box Office on the day of the screening.

Starts	January 18 2011
Ends / Deadline	January 25 2011
Homepage	http://www.nywift.org/newsletter.aspx?ID=2779
Contact	membership@nywift.org
Issues	Gender/Women, Equal Opportunities, Human Rights, International, Middle East, Media, Fair Representation, Politics/Government, Legal Reform, Peace/War, Religious Freedom, Youth, Identity