Screening and Q&A with filmmaker Shahrzad Arshadi (on Zoom) and Targol Mesbah (in person)

Saturday, February 25, 2023

Doors at 5:00 PM, Program at 6:00 PM

Dancing For Change (Canada, 2015, in Kurdish and Farsi with English subtitles) is a story about secular and socialist women of the Islamic world, their ideals, activism, and visions for a better world. It focuses on six Kurdish Iranian women from three different generations who joined the underground organization, due to the extreme oppression they have been subjected to in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The screening will be followed by a conversation with Targol Mesbah, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Social Change at the School of Consciousness and Transformation at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she teaches critical theory, postcolonial critique, media studies, and Iranian cinema.

Shahrzad Arshadi is a Montréal-based, award-winning, multidisciplinary artist, performer, and social justice activist. In her artistic career Shahrzad has ventured into the different fields of photography, documentary film, playwriting, sound creation and performance, enabling her focus on the issues of memory, culture and human rights. Shahrzad is a core member of the Center for Oral History & Digital Storytelling (COHDS) at Concordia University. She is the founding member and artistic director of Z Gallery, a multidisciplinary and community-based artist-run organization.