Shirin Neshat presents new film 'Looking for Oum Kulthum' at Madre museum

Shirin Neshat (Qazvin, 1957), Silver Lion winner at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, presented her new film 'Looking for Oum Kulthum' at the Madre museum in Naples. The screening was preceded by a musical and poetic tribute from singer-actor Raiz and journalist-writer Gianni Valentino. The film, co-directed with Shoja Azari and co-produced by In Between Art Film and VIVO Film, will tour Italy starting late October, with stops in Turin and Rome as part of Videocittà, and many other Italian cities. The film explores the life of Oum Kulthum, one of Egypt's most celebrated singers, whose father dressed her as a boy to allow her to perform in a society that silenced women's voices. In an interview with Artribune, Neshat discussed her distinctive artistic style, characterized by iconic slowness and long pauses of musical observational power. She emphasized that reflection is not depression or sadness but a way to make peace with the world and see both good and bad, darkness and beauty. The conversation also touched on feminism in art, expressing poetry without sentimentality, how audience transfer modifies creative messages, and the relationship between photography and video in her practice, as well as her connection to places like Naples and New York.