PBS | Interview with filmmaker and artist Shirin Neshat

May 2018, Seattle, WA.

Shirin Neshat is widely regarded as one of the most influential contemporary artists. Her deeply felt work—probing women’s roles in Iran and the surge of religious fundamentalism following the 1979 Revolution—led to her being barred from returning to her homeland. She has lived outside Iran in exile since 1996.

Looking for Oum Kulthum, Neshat’s second feature film, offers a fictionalized interpretation of the life of the legendary Egyptian singer. Layered and introspective, the film approaches Kulthum’s story through the perspective of Mitra, a filmmaker portrayed by Neda Rahmanian. Like Neshat herself, Mitra lives in exile and is driven by a determination to make a film about the iconic performer, played by Yasmin Raeis. As she tries to move beyond the myth surrounding Kulthum and uncover a more human story, Mitra is forced to confront her own conflicts, particularly the personal costs of resisting societal expectations.

In this interview, Neshat recounts the process of making the film and describes how it came to mirror many of her own lived experiences.