Sake to Me

Phoenix gets a taste of Japan

Comments (0) By Susan Tully Thursday, Feb 26 2004

Leading Ladies
Festival salutes women of Iranian film

2/29-3/11
The plight of Iranian women comes into focus this weekend, when the Inaugural Mesa Community College International Film Festival -- "Daughters of Scheherazade" -- showcases the first of six films by or about the nation's women. At 6:30 p.m. Sunday, February 29, director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad presents her film Our Times, which, by chronicling the country's 2001 presidential election, explores the evolving roles of Iranian women and young people. (Of the 700-some candidates, 48 were female and, therefore, unrecognized by the government.) Not originally intending to put a feminist focus on the festival, film professor Dr. Don Castro says, "I wanted to counteract -- in my own small way -- what I perceived to be the demonizing of the Iranian people . . . but, then, in researching Iranian films, especially post-revolutionary Iranian films, I found that some of the most exciting Iranian filmmakers were women."

Lilith flare: Women rule at the Rebirth Festival.

Cheers!: Say, "I do" at the Renaissance Festival.

Girls on film: The Innaugural Mesa Community College International Film Festival rolls.

David Gilhooly

Retro twist: "Humor, Irony, and Wit: Ceramic Funk From the Sixties and Beyond" is the new exhibition during CERAM-A-RAMA.

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Screenings continue at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays through March 11 at Chandler's Madstone Theaters, 5835 West Ray. Admission is free. Call 480-461-7613 for a schedule. -- Jill Koch

Play That Funky Muse
3D art is showcased at ASU

2/27-2/29
We can't promise da noise, but the folks at the ASU Art Museum are set to bring in da funk -- all weekend long, in fact, and in a most festive manner. The museum unveils a new exhibition -- "Humor, Irony, and Wit: Ceramic Funk From the Sixties and Beyond" -- this Sunday, February 29, during CERAM-A-RAMA, a three-day celebration of three-dimensional art. Marking the second anniversary of ASU's Ceramics Research Center, CERAM-A-RAMA starts Friday, February 27, with a lecture by artist Patti Warashina, and continues Saturday, February 28, with a fund-raising gala and a panel discussion recounting how the '60s went to pottery. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, funk collectors can check out the clay of the land in a free self-guided tour of 15 Valley ceramics studios. For tickets or a schedule, call 480-965-2787 or see asuartmuseum.asu.edu/crcauction/index.html. -- Jill Koch