Robert Adanto's Pearls on the Ocean Floor to Screen in NYC. Bennett Media Studio is proud to present Robert Adanto's new documentary examining the lives and works of Iranian female artists living and working in and outside the Islamic Republic. Many remember Robert's debut film The Rising Tide, which examining the dynamic Chinese contemporary scene and which PAM helped produce. That film was screened all over the world and Pearls on the Ocean Floor, completed in  June, has already screened at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and at LACMA's Leo S. Bing Theater in Los Angeles. It will be screening at the San Francisco Institute of the Arts next month and the California Biennial in December. The film will make its NYC debut late this month. There are three screenings planned: Wednesday, September 22nd at 7:00pm; Thursday, September 23rd at 7:00pm, and Friday, September 24th at 9:00pm. Bennett Media Studio 723 Washington St. Manhattan, NY There is limited seating and a $10.00 admission fee. To RSVP: email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it Please indicate which date you plan to attend, write your full name, cell number and amount of tickets you plan to purchase.

About the Film: Since June of 2009, Iran citizens have periodically taken to the streets to protest the results of a disputed election. Thirty years after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, a proud nation once again stands at a crossroads. The Green movement, built of a courageous populace seeking justice from an entrenched and imploding regime, continues to seek change in Iran, despite shockingly brutal government forces. There is no better time than the present to examine this fascinating nation and no better approach than through the visual imagery of female artists. It is women who have collectively bore the brunt of an oppressive regime and the bias of a western media that has repeatedly constructed one-dimensional images portraying them as humorless, repressed, second-class citizens in black chadors. Robert Adanto’s Pearls on the Ocean Floor challenges this stereotype and caricature obscuring the vibrant and robust culture in Iran and its diaspora. Professor Hamid Dabashi recently wrote, “a much more patient reading of the visual and performing arts of this generation is needed before we know what in the world it is doing.” Indeed, as the younger generation invents a new identity for the 21st century, replacing the religious ideology and revolutionary fervor of the state’s credo, contradictions abound. Photographer Shadi Ghadirian explains that her work “touches upon our struggle to hold on to our parents’ and grandparents’ traditional values and practices while experiencing the benefits of modernity without getting caught up in its vices… Change is an inevitable process,” she says. Facing issues of identity, gender, and social restrictions, the artists featured in “Pearls on the Ocean Floor” speak with a compelling quiet reserve and a striking boldness. Their work reveals encounters between religion and secular modernity, change and tradition, contemporary life and history. These brave women know now more than ever that their voices must be heard and their people understood. Through their words and their art, the real Iran will be discovered and this important historical moment has been documented.

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