The White Meadows

A native of Shiraz, Mohammad Rasoulof has been a constant target of persecution by Iranian authorities. He was most recently imprisoned in December 2010 alongside fellow filmmaker Jafar Panahi on charges of “assembly, collusion, and propagandizing against the regime” and sentenced to six years in prison and a twenty-year ban on making films or leaving the country. (Both directors had their newest films world-premiered at Cannes this year to great acclaim and equally great outcry for their release.) Made before Rasoulof’s arrest, The White Meadows is a potent allegory of intolerance and the mystifying protocols of authority. A boatman navigates the increasingly brackish waters of a coastal land, collecting the heartaches and tears of its inhabitants. But he remains powerless against their misguided attempts to appease the gods and make the land green again, whether by offering a bride to the sea or “treating” the eyes of a painter who sees in different colors. “One of the most vivid cine-folklorists since Sergei Parajanov. His is a world of landscapes both visceral and symbolic, in which the country's sprawling salt flats appear forever on the verge of engulfing the nomadic characters… A fiercely compassionate call for freedom, the film features downright tangible sensory dimensions: The sky's infinite color and the ocean's saline taste are integral elements of the narrative… Rasoulof's most personal portrait of the responsibilities and dangers of a questioning artist.”—Fernando F. Croce.
Bing Theater | $10 general admission. $7 museum members, seniors (62+), students with valid ID | Tickets: 323 857-6010 or purchase online.

The White Meadows is co-presented by the Global Film Initiative and is part of the Global Lens 2011 film series. For more information, visit globalfilm.org