DESCRIPTION:
The House is Black
The House is Black is Sussan Deyhim’s media-film-performance project, inspired by the works of Forough Farrokhzad, one of Iran’s most influential feminist poets and filmmakers of the 20th Century.

This project seeks to shed light on the importance of progressive Iranian contemporary arts through the vision of two of Iran’s most avant-garde female artists, Forough Farrokhzad and Sussan Deyhim.

Deyhim has created a series of non-linear poetic tableaux inspired by the poems of Forough Farrokhzad. The audience travels through a visual, sonic and theatrical journey into the heart of Forough ‘s prophetic vision where her most intimate, soulful and provocative moments leap off the page and onto the stage. Her message is as poetically and politically relevant today for the women of Iran and the world as it was fifty years ago when she died tragically at the age of 32.

An original score composed by Deyhim and Golden Globe-winning composer Richard Horowitz, featuring brilliant special guests, creates a cinematic musical landscape, including influences rooted in Persian and Western contemporary classical music, jazz and electronic music with an elaborate vocal soundscape and intricate sound design component.

Archival images and scenes from Forough’s documentary The House is Black and Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1965 interview with Forough, along with Deyhim’s original film and visual projections, will create the backdrop and provide a window into the life of Iran’s most controversial poet and filmmaker.
The project has been made possible by a generous grant from the prestigious Los Angeles-based Iranian Farhang Foundation (www.farhang.org), Dr Nina Ansary, House is Black LLC and through a residency at CAP UCLA, a residency fellowship at Robert Rauschenbeg Residency/Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and generous supporters of The House is Black Indiegogo project.