7 views from Iran
With tensions rising in the Persian Gulf, the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul offers a timely reminder that Iran's rich culture continues pushing upward through the cracks of a repressive regime. The second annual MSP Iranian Film Festival presents seven recent features, each a surprise in its own way. Opening-night film "Bomb, a Love Story" (7 p.m. Thu.) is a tale of romance during wartime. "Dressage" is about a middle-class suburban girl caught up in a senseless crime. "Fireflies" centers on a gay stowaway. "Orange Days" tells the tale of a woman contractor in the orange fields of northern Iran. "The Girls" interviews teenagers about their hopes and dreams. "African Violet" is about a middle-aged woman who rescues her first husband from a nursing home. And "Sly" is a political lampoon of Iran's former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It all serves as a prelude to Twin Cities Iranian Culture Week at Artspace Jackson Flats in northeast Minneapolis. (Aug. 15-18, St. Anthony Main Theatre, 115 SE. Main St., Mpls. $7-$10. mspfilm.org.)
TIM CAMPBELL
