Originally published on Art Quarterly by RJD Productions very own Joanna Rudolph!

The Art Quarterly’s on site correspondent, Joanna Rudolph, is at the dance reporting the in’s and outs of this annual winter gathering. Due to limited connectivity (called weak wi-fi), Rudolph’s first report follows:

8:02 PM MST – Park City, UT:

Having arrived in Park City on Friday, Sundance is more than just a launch pad for filmmakers; it is a showcase for visual artists to reach audiences as well. Case in point — the New Frontier on Main, which is the home of art installation projects and hitREcord.org, a multimedia company founded by actor Joseph Gordon Levitt. Fittingly, it was also the location for the panel “Migrating Imaginations: Visions from the Art & Music Worlds.” Moderated by Elvis Mitchell, he conversed with “leading” artists Shirin Neshat and Piplotti Rist to explore the intersections of art and film. Known for their photography and/or video art installations, both artists have followed in the footsteps of visual artists Matthew Barney, David Lynch and Julien Schnabel; they are visual artists turned filmmakers. Neshat is at Sundance with her film “Women Without Men” and Rist with “Pepperminta.”

They gravitated towards filmmaking because of their desire to challenge themselves but also because film has the ability to reach a broader audience. While video art installations and the like make it difficult for artists to control the audience attention span, thereby making the relationship between the piece of art and artist fleeting, a filmmaker can command the attention of an audience for nearly two hours. Not to mention, art installations typically explore abstract concepts whereas storytelling in film is universal. Then there is the issue of cost; ownership of a movie as a DVD is much less costly than ownership typically of a unique work of art. By blending art installations seamlessly into the film world, Sundance is not only making art more available to the wider masses, it is educating audiences on the connectivity between the two mediums.

10. New York Taxis to Tout Art – Hail Shirin Neshat, Alex Katz or Yoko Ono on 500 cabs in the city.

9. Police Recover Picasso’s ‘Little Guitar’ Toy Sculpture Made for Paloma Picasso – Isn’t it cute?!

8. Polish Police Say Foreigner Behind Auschwitz Sign Theft – Thieves are caught and they point to a Thomas Crown living in Sweden.

7. Egypt Antiquities Chief Zahi Hawass to Demand Nefertiti Bust – Too fragile to return? excuses excuses

6. 2009 in Review: In Memoriam – Short list

5. Goodbye to Some of the Notable People in the Arts Who Left Us in 2009 – Long list

4. U.S. Firm Ordered to Turn $500 Million Treasure Over to Spain – Who else loved the discovery special on the History Channel and thinks this is BS?

3. Dutch Secret Service Take Custody of Jill Magid’s Art – Ironic BS

2.  Yale University Says Suit Over Vincent Van Gogh’s Work Imperials Other Art – I love a restitution battle

And in other Yale News, my favorite headline while on vacation…

1. Skull Linked to Secret Yale Society to be Sold at Christie’s – 10 to 20k? Please, secrecy and discretion = bidding war!

TOP ASIAN CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS

We have been up and running for over 18 months now and we receive over 25,000 page views a month. Our readers come to us in various ways: via links from other websites, from twitter, facebook and other social media, from our email newsletter, from word of mouth referrals and of course via search engines.

Many readers find us by typing a specific artist name into Google or another search engine and finding a story or image written by Art Radar. Our analytics package tracks these search terms for us and we thought you might be interested in this data too.

Wucius Wong

We can’t claim that this list is a reliable proxy for the most-searched Asian artists on the internet overall (take a look at our caveats below). However we do think the list throws up some fascinating data.

1.  Takashi Murakami – Male Japanese anime painter and sculptor – 34,000 searches
2. Anish Kapoor – Male British Indian sculptor – 3,500
3. Shirin Neshat – Female Iranian photographer – 2,200
4. Cao Fei – Female Chinese photographer and new media artist – 550 
5. I Nyoman Masriadi – Male Indonesian painter – 520
6. Yoshitaka Amano – Male Japanese anime artist – 460
7. Ori Gersht – Male Israeli photographer – 380
8. Terence Koh – Male Canadian Chinese photographer, installation and multimedia artist - 340
9. AES+F – Russian photography and video collective – 320
10. Ronald Ventura – Male Filipino painter – 280
11. Hiroshi Sugimoto – Male Japanese photographer – 260
12. Farhad Moshiri – Male Iranian painter – 240
13. Subodh Gupta – Male Indian painter, installation artist – 210
14. Farhad Ahrarnia – Female Iranian thread artist – 180
15. Gao Xingjian – Male Chinese ink artist – 180
16. Jitish Kallat – Male Indian painter – 170
17. Wucius Wong – Male Hong Kong Chinese ink artist – 160

The most startling finding is the “‘winner takes all” phenomenon. Takashi Murakami searches are 10 times the second most-searched artist and more than 100 times most of the artists on the list. This correlates with some of the latest findings on internet searches which are tending towards an L shape ie  there are blockbuster categories and a long tail of niches in which a vast number of categories each receive very few searches. 

I Nyoman Masriadi

The well-known book “The Long Tail”‘ first brought the long tail phenomenon to light and it was expected that searchers given the choice would no longer need to cluster around a blockbuster because that was what was most readily available but would be able to choose between a myriad of interest categories. The latest research is showing that the long tail is indeed happening but that the long tail is not diminishing interest in blockbusters, instead the long tail is taking away from the middle-interest categories.

This pattern seems to be borne out in our data.  This trend could have some profound implications for the way that artists are marketed in the future. Perhaps art galleries as we now know them will go the way of independent bookstores and publishers, unable to afford the marketing costs needed to create blockbusters and unable to sell enough in the niches to survive. We would like to hear more about your thoughts on this subject in the comments section below.

Farhad Ahrarnia, The Struggle Within

Preferred media of most-searched artists

Most of the arists work in various media but in this list we have tagged them with the media they are best known for. Only 5 of the artists are known primarily for painting and this list is dominated by photographers, new media artists and sculptors.  Chinese ink, thread and anime make intriguing appearances on the list too.

Age

Most of the artists were born in the 1960s and 1970s as you would expect for a contemporary art site. But there are some surprise appearances for 2 older artists Gao Xingjian born 1940 and Wucius Wong born 1936. What is even more interesting is that both of these artists are Chinese and work in the same, very national genre of ink. While new media dominates, the inclusion of traditional Chinese ink art suggests a countertrend in which historical media and disciplines are being appreciated by contemporary art enthusiasts.

Gender

Male 13, Female 3, Mixed collective 1

Farhad Moshiri

Breakdown of nationalities

Chinese 4, Indian 3, Iranian 3, Japanese 3, Israeli, Indonesian, Filipino and Russian 1 each

While it is commonly known that there is now great international interest in the Chinese, Indian and Iranian art scenes we were fascinated to note the high ranking of two painters from Southeast Asia: Indonesian artist I Nyoman Masriadi and Filipino Ronald Ventura.  The  Southeast Asian collector base is composed of a small group of prominent Indonesian Chinese businessmen collectors. Artists from Southeast Asia find themselves in a somewhat enclosed and isolated art scene and are rarely exhibited outside the region. We did not expect to see Southeast Asian artists achieving a high ranking for internet searches.

Yoshitaka Amano

Notes

This list is not a reliable proxy for the most-searched artists on the internet overall. Here is why:

If we have not written a story on or tagged this artist, the search engines will not bring us traffic for this search term and it won’t appear on our traffic analysis stats page. As we have only been up for 18 months it is quite possible that we have not yet covered some higly-searched artists. And even if we have referenced an artist on our site and the artist is highly-searched, the searcher will not come to us unless we have a good page ranking for the story on the search engine.  For example if the story is, say, after page 4 of the search engine results, the searcher probably won’t find our story and will not appear in our stats. Despite these limitations the data is likely to be a reliable indicator for certain trends. Finally even if we have a story and the story is well-ranked, it may be that other stories on the same page are more alluring than ours and readers do not find their way to us.

 Related posts:

• A common man uncommonly direct – Subodh Gupta in conversation in Hong Kong – Dec 2009
• Which 5 Indian artists would you dare to buy now? May 2009
• What are the latest trends in Chinese art? Who are the top two emerging artists? – Melissa Chiu – Feb 2009
• Female Middle Eastern artists trendy thanks to Shirin Neshat - Time Out – May 2009
• AES+F talks to the Art Newspaper about their meteoric success – Aug 2008
• Women emerge onto the Beijing art scene – Aug 2008

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for the latest trends in Asian art

from CBS.com:

The next place to see modern art in New York City could be on the roof of a yellow cab.A Las Vegas, Nev.-based company that sells advertising space atop taxis says it plans to display artworks on roughly 500 cabs during January in place of commercials.

Show Media co-owner John Amato says he wanted to give something back to the city.

The project will cost the company about $100,000 in lost revenue.

The Art Production Fund of New York helped select the artists whose works will sit atop passenger cabins: Shirin Neshat, Alex Katz and Yoko Ono.

Each artist’s work will appear on about 160 cabs.

Renderings show how hundreds of New York taxis will become mobile public art next month when their rooftop ad boards display works by, from left, Shirin Neshat, Alex Katz and Yoko Ono.

By CAROL VOGEL

Those moving advertisements atop taxis generally deliver not-so-subtle messages, like which airlines to fly or movies to see, who makes the sexiest blue jeans or the coolest sunglasses.

But for the month of January, Show Media, a Las Vegas company that owns about half the cones adorning New York City’s taxis, has decided to give commerce a rest. Instead, roughly 500 cabs will display a different kind of message: artworks by Shirin Neshat, Alex Katz and Yoko Ono.

The project is costing Show Media about $100,000 in lost revenue, but John Amato, one of Show’s owners and a contemporary-art fan, said: “I thought it was time to take a step back. January’s a slow month. I could have cut my rates but instead I decided to hit the mute button and give something back to the city.”

Read more at: Soon You Can Hail an Artist as You Hail a Cab

It’s been a year where artists like Steve McQueen and Sam Taylor-Wood have turned their hands to dramatic features. Iranian video artist Shirin Neshat channels her themes into the story of her nation’s 1953 coup, sponsored by the CIA, as seen by four women. Like McQueen, Neshat is looking back at eternal power structures, using the tools of political consciousness and imaginative abstraction. Based on the novel by Shahrnoush Parsipour. Music by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Shirin Neshat is a Iranian visual artist who lives in New York. She is known primarily for her work in film, video and photography.

Her work refers to the social, cultural and religious codes of Muslim societies and the complexity of certain oppositions, such as man and woman. Neshat often emphasizes this theme with the technique of showing two or more coordinated films concurrently, creating stark visual contrasts through such motifs as light and dark, black and white, male and female. Neshat has also made more traditional narrative short films, such as her recent work, Zarin.
The work of Shirin Neshat addresses the social, political and psychological dimensions of women’s experience in contemporary Islamic societies. Although Neshat actively resists stereotypical representations of Islam, her artistic objectives are not explicitly polemical. Rather, her work recognizes the complex intellectual and religious forces shaping the identity of Muslim women throughout the world.

As a photographer and video-artist, Shirin Neshat was recognized for her brilliant portraits of women entirely overlaid by Persian calligraphy (notably through the Women of Allah series). She also directed several videos, among them Anchorage (1996) and, projected on two opposing walls: Shadow under the Web (1997), Turbulent (1998), Rapture (1999) and Soliloquy (1999).

Neshat’s recognition became more international in 1999, when she won the International Award of the XLVIII Biennial of Venice with Turbulent and Rapture, a project involving almost 250 extras and produced by the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont which met with critical and public success after its worldwide avant-première at the Art Institute of Chicago in May 1999. With Rapture, Neshat tried for the first time to make pure photography with the intent of creating an aesthetic, poetic, and emotional shock.

In 2001-02, Neshat collaborated with singer Sussan Deyhim and created Logic of the Birds, which was produced by curator and art historian RoseLee Goldberg. The full length multimedia production premiered at the Lincoln Center Summer Festival in 2002 and toured to the Walker Art Institute in Minneapolis and to Artangel in London.

Shirin Neshat has become one of the most well known Persian artist within the Western artistic world. While she lives in New York City, she addresses a global audience. Her earlier work was symbolic of her personal grief, anxiety and the pain of separation from her home country. It took a neutral position on Islam. As time progressed and the Islamic regime of Iran became more intrusive and oppressive, Neshat’s artwork became more boldly political and subversively critical against it.
She seeks to, according an article in Time, “untangle the ideology of Islam through her art.” Her current cinematic work continues to express the poetic, philosophical, and metaphorical as well as complex levels of intellectual abstraction.

In 2009 Neshat won the Silver Lion for best director at the 66th Venice Film Festival for her directional debut “Women without Men”. She said about the movie: “This has been a labour of love for six years.(…) This film speaks to the world and to my country.”

wikipedia.com

Picture from her work “Women of Allah”

Turbulent by Shirin Neshat

Pictures from Shirin Neshat’s works

So there was plenty of great looking films to choose from (I particularly wanted also to see Jacques Audiard’s  A Prophet as recommended to me by Julien Planté, Joon-Ho Bong’s Mother, Jacques Rivette’s Around A Small Mountain, Elia Suleiman’s The Time That Remains, Jarmusch’s The Limits Of Control and Mia Hansen-Løve’s Father of My Children amongst others, guess I will have to wait for the DVDs) and I eventually chose rather a mixed bag.

Jeunet's latest stars Dany Boon (centre) as Bazil, here with his adopted family of eccentrics.

The first film I saw was the Gala opening of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs (Micmacs À  Tire-Larigot) which I found to be not quite as good as Amelie of City Of Lost Children. Jean Pierre-Jeunet’s  last film A Very Long Engagement marked a departure to a more serious tone and epic scale and it’s been five years since then after an adaptation of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi  (tis a  shame I would’ve liked to have seen that) got too expensive, as Jeunet himself told us introducing the film. So there was a high expectation for this one.

The film follows the adventures of Bazil (Dany Boon) who nearly dies when a bullet accidently lodges into his brain. He sets out on a mission to find the arms dealers indirectly responsible for his near-death, and also for the death of his father in North Africa during his childhood.

He is aided by an adopted ‘family’ of eccentrics- including Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon as  Fracasse, a man determined to beat world records and Yolande Moreau as Tambouille, a sensitive contortionist- who live in fantastical underground caves under a refuge heap.

Jeunet has a lot of fun in vilifying the arms trade as represented by rivals Libraski (Jean-Pierre Becker) and Gerbaud (Patrick Paroux), showing Gerbaud viciously biting the heads off prawns and eulogising on the power of a land mine with power enough to take out an area the ’size of a football pitch’, (cue Bazil imagining a football match where footballers randomly get blown up). And Libraski proudly displaying his morbid collection of celebrities’ body-parts (Picasso’s finger is insultingly manipulated at one point in one of the best visual gags).

And the schemes that Bazil’s team concocts against them are elaborate and clever, while Boon displays a Chaplinesque gift for physical comedy. The problem is that things run so smoothly in Jeunet’s escapist-wish-fulfilment worlds that you find yourself wishing that Bazil and his team met with more obstacles, and that things weren’t so charming and embedded in a simplistic black and white morality (Jeunet is definately the more mainstream Spielbergian side of French cinema which typically favours amoral ambiguities in its characters and narratives). Saying that though he does still manage to make some salient points about how life is based on so many chances, with Bazil’s life literally decided on a toss of the coin in an operating theatre.

But even when you think that the ending is going into more amoral territory, Jeunet turns it into something merely amusing, meanwhile emphasising the rushed romance between Tambouille and Bazil. But that’s Jeunet for you, and you can’t fault his gift for old-fashioned entertainment.  And he certainly has visual flair to spare but I’m afraid I’m one of those who prefers my French films socio-realistic with more sophisticated characterisation than Jeunet’s play at heroes and villains (though maybe this is also greatly to do with the fact that it’ s largely a comedy). I laughed but was left feeling a little dissappointed like I had expected Jenuet to be well, less Jeunet.

The Portuguese Nun stars Leonor Baldaque as a strangely calm actress.

The second film I saw (on the recommendation of Kieron Corless in Sight & Sound) was Eugène Green’s The Portuguese Nun (A Religiosa Portuguesa) about an actress (Leonor Baldaque) who suffers from an instable love life. She visits Lisbon  to make a two-hander film about a nun and who makes some life-changing encounters along the way, meeting a real-life nun who inspires her to be a less selfish person and adopt a poor boy she meets. 

The film had some beautiful shots of Lisbon, it’s architecture, churches, city views and cobbled squares and alleys, the camera paying the city an adoring homage.  It also featured moving music of  fado  with singers Caminé and Aldina Duarte given wholes scenes to sing their songs, Green also concentrating on the emotional effects of the music on spectators.

There was also some funny moments such as when we see Green as the director in the film (so very meta) dancing like the old man he is in the disco and commenting on how it’s hard to be ‘hip’. But overall I think the film gets too bogged down in trying to be different. The camera persistently lingers on empty spaces or focuses for too long on anything from feet to door frames, refusing to follow the convention of following the main object of interest, i.e the lead actor.

This combined with the fact that the central actress keeps the same calm expression throughout the film, and all the actors speak in an unnatural mannered and slow tone meant that I continually felt disengaged from the film internally wishing Green would cut faster and stop being so pretentious. It also meant that it dragged, so it didn’t really work for me.

Ander is a moving little gem which stars Joxean Bengoetxa (left) as the titular character whose life is transformed when he meets Christian Esquivel's (right) Jose.

The next film I saw was Roberto Castón’s Ander which I loved, it got across profound things but in an entirely naturalistic and unpretentious way. Set in the Basque region it focuses on the life of the central character of the title, (played with great honesty by Joxean Bengoetxea) living in a secluded village on a farm with his mother (a comically grumpy and protective Pila Rodríguez) and sister (Leira Ucha) whose  limited existence is interrupted by the arrival of Peruvian Jose (ChristianEsquivel). A hired help who comes in when Ander has an accident and makes him acknowledge his true sexuality as a homosexual.

The rural area where they live is beautifully photographed, while also depicting the monotony and drudgery of Ander’s life as a farmer, as he gets up at 5.30 everyday to plough the land, feed the pigs and milk the cows with often only his radio for entertainment before Jose comes along.

He is surrounded by colourful and well-drawn characters in the community such as Panadero (a great and comically machismo performance from Jose Kruz Gurrutxaga) as Ander’s only friend, and a crude mismatched one at that who loves nothing better than shagging and drinking for whom the thought of homosexuality is something to be mocked and be disgusted by.

Ander also befriends Reme (another impressive performance from Maman Rivera)  a prostitute who is used by all in the village. She also takes her son around with her and we learn later that her husband has left her and she is desperately hoping for him to return. What’s great about her character is that we never judge her as she is so sensitively rendered. She is also the only one in the village that understands what is going on between Jose and Ander and encourages them, it is in fact her outsider’s position that allows her to be more open-minded than anyon-else.

The character of Iñaki (Eriz Alberdi) is also a delight and a moving character study of an elderly man who has been in love with Ander’s mother since the day he met her, but who is afraid to say anything because of Ander and his supposed loyalty to his father ( not realising that Ander was in fact tyrannised by him).(*SPOILER* in next sentance) So it is a very affecting when Ander’s mother eventually dies bringing forth all his previously restrained emotions.

Ander’s eventual realisation of his sexuality is realistically and touchingly realised as well, treating Jose with increasing warmth, and then contempt and indifference when he realises the effect he is having on him.  His realisation that he needs Jose comes then as he becomes more self-aware and sees that a life spent alone is no life at all.A beautiful film with sensitive performances from the leads, it had me thinking about it for days afterwards. I really hope this one gets a wide release despite it’s gay theme I think it’s meditation on loneliness  (as well as the  great shots of the Basque countryside) would connect with everyone.

The beautifully photographed Women Without Men features Shabnam Toloui (centre) as Munis a woman determined to take part in the political events shaping her country.

The last film I saw was Shirin Neshat’s Women Without Men  (Zanan-e Bedun-e Mardan) based on Shahrunsh Parsipar’s magic-realist novel, which won the Silver Lion for best direction at the Venice Film Festival and was 6 years in the making. It is set in 1953 in Iran, at a time when the British and American-lead coup against the then elected Prime Minister Mossadegh and installed a military dictatorship in its place leading to more oppression especially for women. Hence also making us aware of Western involvement in the current state of Iran and the hypocrisy of Western government’s criticisms of Iran.

The film tells the story of four women living in these tumultuous times, Zarim(Hungarian actress Orsi Tóth),  a prostitute with anorexia, Munis (Shabnam Toloui) a woman who joins the Communists and rebels against her brother Ali’s (Navíd Akhavan) wish that she be married. Faezah (Pegah Ferydoni) a women who longs to marry Ali but is frustrated when he marries someone-else, and Forakh Legh (Arita Shahrzad) a woman who longs for her more bohemian lifestyle and former lover Abbas (Bijan Daneshmand) before she married.

The film shows the frustration, humiliation and desperation of these women’s lives (only made worse by the regime change), as we see the sadness in which Zarim lives her life, despondent about her job serving men and ashamed by her own body (in one painful scene she tries to scrub the bruises off her shockingly emaciated body), she is also a mysterious character who never speaks, perhaps in protest at the world around her.

The other women are more vocal in their defiance, Munis openly refuses to be married off and her determination to live her own life as conveyed by Touloi is inspiring and courageous, reminding us of the other women still now fighting for freedom in Iran and other oppressed countries after all these years.

While Forakh renounces her previous marriage and goes to live outside the strictures of society in a house situated on a beautiful magical orchard which provides a haven for all the women (Even the military who eventually enter the house soon become just part of the party she is having, and become enraptured by the moving Iranian music playing there). She becomes a mother to the women but also misses out on the love of  Abbas who has moved on.

Faezah represents a more traditional woman in her desire to get married but even she comes to realise the limits of a life enslaved and beholden to a man like Ali, who would her take her on as a second wife and make his first her ’slave.’ Her rape also makes clear the privilege that men feel in Iran’s society to do whatever they like to women.

One of the most defining things about the film was the beautiful cinematography by Martin Gschlacht. The bleached out visuals like a faded photograph in the scenes in the city (shot in Casablanca in Morocco), contrasting with sumptuous colour of the flora in the magical orchard.  The camera inviting you in as respite from all the political turmoil in the city. The atmospheric  soundtrack by Ryûichi Sakamoto was also a great partner to the often poetic images, while the traditional Iranian music played in the film gave a sense of national culture and heritage as well as being very moving.

It’s just a shame about the ending which ended rather too abruptly for me after a climatic build-up. But otherwise it’s an enthralling and enlightening film that is definitely worth watching on the big screen if it manages to get on any cinemas here.

Till next time…

di Simona Maggiorelli

Shirin Neshat, I'm it's secret

Politica e poesia. Ricerca di identità femminile e rapporto con l’altro. Esplorando la diversità fra uomo e donna, il desiderio ma anche la solitudine. Sono i “temi” forti al centro della ricerca di Shirin Neshat fin da quando alla fine degli anni Settanta lasciò l’Iran per studiare negli Stati Uniti. Dopo la rivoluzione, il regime di Khomeini le vietò di tornare, pena il carcere. Solo dopo la morte dell’ayatollah finalmente lei riuscì a rimettere piede nella sua terra di origine. «Fu uno shock – racconta -.Perché trovai un Paese islamico, di donne velate, non c’erano più echi dell’antica Persia e della sua poesia». Una cultura orientale che Shirin Neshat dice di sentire profondamente propria, offrendo «uno sguardo meno razionale sulle cose». E uno sguardo lirico, pieno di pathos, è la cifra che più colpisce nei suoi lavori. Fin dalla prima serie fotografica, Donne di Allah, realizzata tra 1993 e il 1997 e che ha imposto l’artista iraniana sulla scena internazionale. Immagini in bianco e nero, aperte su orizzonti immensi, punteggiati da silenziose figure di donne velate. Mani maschili, in primo piano, segnate da versi in calligrafia araba squadrata e monumentale. Oppure autoritratti in cui l’artista, con in testa il chador, drammaticamente imbraccia un fucile. Sul volto ha impressi passi del Corano.

Ma nel carnet di Neshat si trovano anche sensuali immagini di donna in cui il body painting non è più una scrittura rigidamente imposta dall’esterno ma fiorisce sulla pelle in una più tondeggiante e morbida grafia. Le labbra appena schiuse, forse parole sussurrate, la gioia di potersi esprimere con una propria voce originale. Sono gli scatti magnetici, esteticamente raffinati e, insieme, di grande efficacia che ritroviamo nella serie di volumi editi da Charta che ripercorrono l’opera della fotografa e filmaker nata a Qazvin nel 1957. Compreso il suo lavoro di videoartista, fatto di sequenze “oniriche” e silenziose e in cui versi e  musica sostituiscono i dialoghi. Video dalle atmosfere malinconiche e struggenti come Turbolent (1998) Soliloquy (1999) o Rapture (1999) in cui appaiono donne misteriose e ribelli che pagano con la solitudine la propria rivolta contro la violenza privata o di regime, oppure donne follemente innamorate, coraggiose, pronte a tutto. Come in certi film di Tarkovsky (che Neshat riconosce come maestro assoluto d’arte cinematografica), sono storie che arrivano allo spettatore emotivamente, attraverso immagini sfumate, evocative. La videoarte di Shirin Neshat, più ancora della sua opera fotografica, suggerisce più che raccontare. è un’arte ellittica, densa di metafore, fortemente concettuale. Anche quando il tema è strettamente storico, le immagini non sono mai descrittive, cronachistiche. Ma se nella brevità di un video, come in poesia, possono bastare alcune immagini potenti a schiudere un intero universo di senso, più difficile è che questa impresa riesca in un film, in cui c’è comunque bisogno di tratteggiare e approfondire dei personaggi.

Shirin Neshat

La giuria di Venezia con il Leone d’argento dice che la poliedrica Neshat è riuscita anche in questo. E in attesa dell’uscita nelle sale italiane del film Women without men prevista per il 4 dicembre, intanto, la galleria Noire contemporary art di Torino, fino al 22 novembre, offre una interessante finestra sui sei anni di gestazione che precedono il film, liberamente tratto da un romanzo della scrittrice Shahrnush Parsipur, censurato in Iran. Anni in cui Neshat, in collaborazione con l’artista iraniano Shoja Azari, ha sviluppato in quattro videoinstallazioni le storie, diversissime, di altrettante donne che finiscono poi, casualmente, per incontrarsi nella rivolta del 1953 contro lo scià e l’imperialismo Usa. In questa serie di video non si raccontano solo gli slanci idealistici della rivolta, il furore rivoluzionario ma anche le storie intime, private, di uomini e donne che si amano o si perdono mentre stanno scrivendo questa importante pagina di storia. «Women without men – dice Neshat – è un romanzo bello e strano. Non avrei potuto scegliere un libro più difficile. è scritto con uno stile di realismo magico che poi ho scoperto è tra i più ardui da tradurre visivamente». Ma il rapporto di Neshat con la scrittura di Parsipur va al di là di questo romanzo «Il mio lavoro nasce all’incrocio di esigenze simili. Ciascuna di noi a suo modo ha cercato di creare opere molto personali e molto politiche».

La mostra – Game of desire

Da anni la vita e l’opera di Shirin Neshat è completamente assorbita dalle vicende che attraversano l’Iran. Cercando di appoggiare come artista le istanze di democrazia che soprattutto le giovani generazioni stanno esprimendo con passione nel Paese. Una rivolta pacifica e crescente che il regime di  Ahmadinejad sta cercando di soffocare  nel sangue. «Per questo – racconta l’artista – solo di rado negli ultimi dieci anni ho potuto e voluto sviluppare progetti che parlassero di altro». Uno di questi rari progetti l’ha portata di recente  in Laos e Vietnam, sulle tracce di antiche forme di rappresentazione, dette lam e conosciute in molte varianti in Asia. Si tratta di poemi che, intrecciandosi in tenzoni, uomini e donne intonano e suonano per notti intere. Neshat è riuscita a filmarle. Ne è nato un video e una mostra fotografica, Games of desire, presentata a Bruxelles e a Parigi e ora raccontata in un volume edito da Charta. Un lavoro sul modo di vivere e rappresentare poeticamente il rapporto uomo donna in alcune aree del Sudest asiatico, rinnovando tradizioni antichissime.

Shirin Neshat is an installation artist working primarily in video. She just directed her first feature length film, Zanan bedoone mardan (Women without Men), which won the award for best director at the 66th Venice International Film Festival.

Dal romanzo di Sharnush Parsipur – il cui titolo fa forse un po’ il verso al Men without women di John Ford – a Venezia è stato presentato l’omonimo film di Shirin Neshat, opera prima della nota artista e fotografa iraniana fresca vincitrice del Leone d’argento per la regia in Laguna.
Il film è ambientato nella Teheran della metà degli anni Cinquanta – un periodo di forte subbuglio politico – e racconta la lotta quotidiana di quattro donne tra loro diverse ma unite dal senso di frustrazione, di oppressione, di crescente insoddisfazione verso un destino caustrofobico. La loro vita diventa così la ricerca di una via di fuga – nel film idealizzata in un giardino (l’Eden?) – per scappare da abusi, umiliazioni e sofferenze, nel tentativo di trovare indipendenza e serenità, conforto e calore umano.
Una fotografia impeccabile, un’atmosfera sospesa tra sogni/incubi e realtà, Women without men è un film dal retrogusto triste, delicato ma emozionante, un grido sordo che diventa un inno alla libertà. Da vedere.

… because if he had, I seriously doubt he would’ve called the Holocaust “a myth” today at a “pro-Palestinian” rally (though, considering the “Death to Israel” chants which broke out, it sounds like more of an “anti-Israel” rally than anything) held in Tehran. It’s one thing to diminish the sheer weight of the Holocaust (as with Jean-Marie Le Pen’s infamous “un point de détail de l’histoire” comment), but it’s another to flaunt one’s own insane negationism in such an unapologetic, even desperate fashion. (Note: Obviously, I don’t literally mean to say that seeing a film would be enough to convince Ahmadinejad, or any Holocaust denier for that matter, of the Holocaust’s having happened.)

The Iranian opposition protesters were out in force at the rally, and this political chaos leads one to want see  Shirin Neshat’s Silver Lion-winning Women Without Men (2009) all the more badly. Here’s hoping that that film turns up over here in the not-too-distant future.

Oh those flashing lights! The celeb-stalking! The paparazzi! The crowds! The red carpet! This could only mean one thing…the return of our beloved city into the cinema world spotlight! That’s right, the 34th Toronto International Film Festival began just last Thursday, and as always, I’ve been basking in the glory of all the festivities.

I kicked off the Film Festival season with Sharin Neshat’s adaptation of Shahrnush Parsipur’s novella, ‘Women without Men’. Set against the political backdrop of the 1953 Iranian coup d’état that brought down the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh, the film tells the interconnected tales of four women struggling to find freedom in their own personal lives.

Read on…

Del 2 al 12 de septiembre se ha celebrado la 66ª edición de la Mostra de Venecia que, como suele suceder en este tipo de eventos cinematográficos, no ha estado exenta de polémica ya que Sylvester Stallone fue galardonado con el Premio Honorífico “Gloria Jaeger-LeCoultre para el cineasta” por su huella en el universo cinematográfico.

Esta decisión no ha sentado demasiado bien teniendo en cuenta que grandes realizadores como Takeshi Kitano, Abbas Kiarostami o Agnès Varda recibieron el mismo galardón en anteriores ediciones. No suscitó la misma controversia el otro Premio Honorífico concedido al director y productor John Lasseter (junto con su equipo de Pixar) por toda su trayectoria.

Decisiones erróneas o acertadas a parte, la película que se llevó el León de Oro fue la israelí “Lebanon” de Samuel Maoz que narra la vida de un grupo de soldados en el interior de un tanque durante la primera guerra del Líbano en 1982.

El León de Plata a la mejor dirección recayó en la directora iraní Shirin Neshat por su película “Zanan Bedone Mardan”, un retrato crítico sobre la dura situación social en el Teherán de los años 50.

El Premio Especial del Jurado fue a parar al director alemán de origen turco Fatih Akin (“Contra la pared” -2004-, “Al otro lado” -2007-) por su película “Soul Kitchen”, una comedia de enredo que se sitúa en un restaurante.

El actor británico Colin Firth ha sido galaradonado con la Copa Volpi por su interpretación en la ópera prima de Tom Ford “A Single Man” y Ksenia Rappoport la ha recibido por su trabajo en “La Doppia Ora”.

Señalar, finalmente, que la Sección Oficial no contó con presencia española y que ésta se redujo a las proyecciones fuera de concurso de “Gordos” de Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, “Celda 211” de Daniel Monzón y “[REC2]” de Jaume Balagueró y Paco Plaza.

A continuación os presentamos el palmarés completo de este año:

PALMARÉS DE LA SECCIÓN OFICIAL (presidida por el director Ang Lee)

-Mejor película: “Lebanon” de Samuel Maoz (Israel).

-Mejor director: Shirin Neshat  por “Zanan Bedone Mardan” (Irán).

-Premio especial del jurado: “Soul Kitchen” de Fatih Akin (Alemania).

-Copa Volpi al mejor actor: Colin Firth por “A Single Man” de Tom Ford (USA).

-Copa Volpi a la mejor actriz: Ksenia Rappoport por “La Doppia Ora” de Giuseppe Capotondi (Italia).

-Premio Marcello Mastroianni al mejor intérprete revelación: Jasmine Trinca por “Il Grande Sogno” de Michele Placido (Italia).

-Premio Osella al mejor guión: “Life During Wartime” de Todd Solondz (USA).

-Premio Osella al mejor diseño de producción: Sylvie Olivé por “Mr. Nobody” de Jaco Van Dormael (Bélgica).

SECCIÓN HORIZONTES  (presidida por el director catalán Pere Portabella)

-Premio Venecia Horizontes: “Engkwentro” de Pepe Diokno (Filipinas).

-Documental Horizontes: “1428” de Haibin Du (China).

-Mención especial: “Aadmi ki aurat aur anya kahaniya” de Amit Dutta (India).

SECCIÓN CORTO CORTISSIMO

-León Corto Cortissimo: “Eersgeborene” de Etienne Kallos (Sudáfrica).

-Mención especial: “Felicità” de Salomé Aleksi (Georgia).

-Candidato a los Premios del Cine Europeo: “Sinner” de Meni Philip (Israel) 

CONTROCAMPO ITALIANO

-Mejor película: “Cosmonauta” de Susanna Nicchiarelli (Italia).

-Mención especial: “Negli oc Chi” de Daniele Anzelotti y Francesco del Grosso (Italia).

PREMIO FIPRESCI

-Mejor película: “Lourdes” de Jessica Hausner (Austria).

-Mejor película de Horizontes y de la Semana Internacional de la Crítica: “Choi Voi de Bui” Thac Chuyen (Vietnam).

PREMIO SIGNIS 

-Mejor película: “Lourdes” de Jessica Hausner (Austria).

-Mención especial: “Lebanon” de Samuel Maoz (Israel).

PREMIO DE LA SEMANA INTERNACIONAL DE LA CRÍTICA:
“Tehroun” de Takmil Homayoun Nader (Francia).

PREMIOS FRANCESCO PASINETTI

-Gran Premio: “Baaríade” Giuseppe Tornatore (Italia).

-Mejor película: “Lo Spazio Bianco” de Francesca Comencini (Italia).

-Mejor actor: Filippo Timi por “La Doppia Ora” (Italia).

-Mejor actriz: Margherita Buy por “Lo Spazio Bianco” (Italia).

-Premio especial: Riccardo Scamarcio por “Il Grande Sogno” (Italia).

-Segundo premio especial: Povero ma Moderno de Pappi Corsicato (Italia).

PREMIO LABEL A LA MEJOR PELÍCULA EUROPEA: “The Last Days of Emma Blank” de Alex van Warmerdam (Holanda).

PEQUEÑO LEÓN DE ORO: “Capitalism: A Love Story” de Michael Moore (USA).

PREMIO CONCEDIDO POR UNICEF: “Zanan Bedone Mardan” de Shirin Neshat (Irán).

PREMIO VENECIA DE CINE: “Lourdes” de Jessica Hausner (Austria).

PREMIO UNESCO: “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” de Werner Herzog (USA).

PREMIO QUEER LION A LA MEJOR PELÍCULA DE TEMÁTICA HOMOSEXUAL: “A Single Man” de Tom Ford (USA).

PREMIO DE LA JUVENTUD

-Mejor película de la sección oficial: “Soul Kitchen” de Fatih Akin (Alemania).

-Mejor película italiana: “La Doppia Ora” de Giuseppe Capotondi (Italia).

Briony 

Veja os principais premiados e o que se passou na 66ª edição do Festival de Veneza, um dos festivais mais tradicionais da Europa:

• Leão de Ouro para melhor filme: “Lebanon”, do israelense Samuel Maoz;
• Copa Volpi de melhor ator: o britânico Colin Firth por seu papel em “A Single Man” de Tom Ford;
• Copa Volpi de melhor atriz: a russa Ksenia Rappoport por seu papel em “La doppia ora”, de Giuseppe Capotondi;
• Leão de Prata para melhor direção: a iraniana Shirin Neshat por “Zanan bedoone Mardan” (“Women Without Men”);
• Prêmio especial do júri: “Soul Kitchen” do turco-alemão Fatih Akin;
• Prêmio Marcello Mastroianni de melhor intérprete jovem: a italiana Jasmine Trinca por sua atuação em “Il grande sogno”, de Michele Placido;
• Prêmio Osella de melhor roteiro: o norte-americano Todd Solondz por “Life During Wartime”;
• Prêmio Osella de melhor direção artística: a francesa Sylvie Olivé por “Mr Nobody”, de Jaco Van Dormael (França).

Analisando o resultado da premiação, ele vai de desencontro com o que a grande maioria dos cinéfilos esperava. Observou-se o grande apelo político no resultado dos premiados principais (Leão de Ouro e Leão de Prata).

“Lebanon”, que ganhou o Leão de Ouro, o mais importante prêmio, é de um diretor israelense e que tem como centro da narrativa o sequestro sofrido por três soldados judeus por radicais libaneses. Lembram desse episódio? Foi amplamente divulgado pela imprensa internacional e quase causou uma guerra entre Israel e Líbano, países que já não se batem de frente há muitas gerações.

O Leão de Prata, que premia a melhor direção, foi para a iraniana radicada novaiorquina Shirin Neshat. Em seu filme, “Mulheres sem Homens” (em uma tradução livre), ela critica duramente o governo de seu país natal, principalmente no que se diz respeito aos direitos humanos (ou a falta deles) em relação às mulheres e toca no ponto de falta de liberdade de expressão individual, social e de imprensa. Não é preciso que nos lembremos do episódio das eleições no Irã, no primeiro semestre desse ano, não é mesmo?

Outras Produções de Destaque

O americano mais crítico ao governo de seu próprio país, o cineasta Michael Moore, também marcou presença com uma produção. Convidado, sob aplausos e gritos entusiasmados, apresentou seu “Capitalism – A Love Story” (Capitalimo – Uma História de Amor).

O documentário analisa e explora as questões e os aspectos econômicos que culminaram na recente crise mundial. “Acho que o mundo inteiro está sofrendo com os resultados deste colapso da economia. A verdade é que quanto mais vocês tentarem se comportar como nós, mais difícil para sua sociedade. Vocês agora na Itália têm esse líder conservador louco [Silvio Berlusconi]. Mas talvez eu não devesse estar dizendo isso, já que sou um convidado”, declarou Moore, sempre polêmico.

Outro que causou uma tempestade em Veneza foi Hugo Chávez. Sim, nosso vizinho ditador. O que ele foi fazer lá? Era a principal estrela de outro documentário. “South of the Border” (Ao Sul da Fronteira, em tradução livre), de Oliver Stone, é sobre a chegada da liderança de esquera aos governos da América do Sul.

Chávez e Stone assistindo a South of the Border.

O furor causado por Chavito foi grande. Quem ousou chamá-lo de ditador foi prontamente convidado a se retirar da sala de exibição por agentes do governo venezuelano, que observavam a tudo e a todos atentamente. Conseguiram colar um cartaz na parede, com os dizeres “Basta Chávez, ditador”, mas que também foi retirado. “O documentário, que não procura questionar muito os sul-americanos, conta a ascensão de Chávez ao poder, suas mudanças e como vários líderes esquerdistas sul-americanos foram eleitos, na esteira de sua vitória, incluindo Rafael Correa no Equador, Fernando Lugo no Paraguai e Evo Morales na Bolívia”, diz o Último Segundo. De acordo com Chávez, está acontecendo uma revolução não só na Venezuela, mas em toda a Sul-América. “Uma revolução armada de ideias” (e de mísseis russos comprados nessa semana. Tá, parei!)

Horizontes

Para finalizar, é legal mencionarmos algo sobre a seção Horizontes, uma competição paralela à principal, na qual concorrem produções de todo o planeta. Dois filmes brasileiros estavam na corrida para levar o prêmio: “Insolação”, de Felipe Hirsch e Daniela Thomas, e o bem comentado “Viajo Porque Preciso, Volto Porque Te Amo”, de Karim Aïnouz e Marcelo Gomes. Infelizmente eles ficram de fora da premiação.

“Aadmi Ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniya” (A Mulher do Homem e Outras Histórias), do indiano Amit Dutta, sobre as relações entre homens e mulheres, ganhou menção honrosa, “1428″, documentário chinês sobre o terremoto que arrasou a região de Sichuan em maio de 2008, levou o troféu Horzontes Doc e o drama filipino “Engkwentro”, de Pepe Diokno, sobre dois irmãos adolescentes envolvidos numa guerra de gangues, foi o vencedor do prêmio para filmes de ficção da mostra.

E assim terminou a 66º Mostra Internacional de Arte Cinematográfica de Veneza. Diferente da do ano passado, ela deu o que falar! rs