Sunday, February 27, 2022

February 27 Land of Dreams

Iranian American artist Shirin Neshat is known for her photography and video art work. With Land of Dreams, she steps out into long form art film with professional actors. 

The protagonist artist, played wryly by Sheila Vand is a field worker for a future fictional census bureau. Her job is to collect dreams for the census. That leads to many surreal adventures. Her side gig is to steal the dreams and reenact them on her social media channel. Along the way, she collects a proposed paramour, played by William Moseley, and a bodyguard played by Matt Dillon. It is artfully shot in the American Southwest with an additional cast of strange characters. The feature film is paired with a gallery show by the same name. The gallery work is a large collection of straight black and white portraits of Southwesterners, and two video artworks.

The film center at the art museum shows the film, which is making its rounds of film festivals. It is yet rarely seen, but you can. Land of Dreams at the Northwest Film Center in the Portland Art Museum Whitsell Auditorium 1219 SW Park 3PM $12