Key West The Newspaper

Activism Through Art: Key West Art & Historical Society Film Series Continues at Custom House Museum with “Stardust Stricken”

In a time when temperatures and political activism are heating up, cool down with a thought-provoking film that explores what it means to turn adversity into art with “Stardust Stricken,” Thursday, July 14 at 6:00 pm in the Helmerich Research & Learning Center at the Custom House Museum, 281 Front Street.

Part of Key West Art & Historical Society’s “Art As History, History As Art” film series, “Stardust Stricken” features Houshang Golmakani and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, two of the most important participants of the Iranian New Wave who come together to give us a rare look at the relationship between personal history, ideology, and art.

Journey with Golmakani— critic, filmmaker, and founding editor of Film, Iran’s oldest post-revolutionary film magazine— through the locales of controversial film director Makmalbaf’s (The Boycott and The Gardener) youth: the poor Tehrani neighborhood where he was born, the clandestine places his political guerrilla group met, and the spot where he was shot and arrested while trying to disarm a policeman. With a running time of 70 minutes, the Iranian film in Farsi with English subtitles documents the places and events that shaped the filmmaker who would, after a four-year prison sentence, decide to approach his activism through art.

Made possible in part by the generosity of the Helmerich Trust, the “Art As History, History As Art” film series is curated by Society board member and cineaste Michael Shields, who offers “films that expand our vistas and give us fresh views of our home.” Tickets for the event can be purchased online at KWAHS.ORG/LEARN: $5 for members, $10 for non-members. For more information about this and other programs, please contact Adele Williams, Director of Education, at 305-295-6616, ext. 115. Your Museums. Your Community. It takes an Island.