Renowned Iranian filmmaker Kamran Shirdel studied filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinemotografia in Rome, birthplace of neorealism, a heritage that is evident in his nuanced observations of everyday existence. Due to his focus on taboo topics such as poverty, prostitution, and prison life and his experiments with cinematic language, a number of his films were confiscated and banned by the Shah's government. We are honored to host Shirdel during his first visit to the U.S., and to present four of his remarkable short films known as “The Four Blacks,” which influenced a generation of contemporary Iranian filmmakers. He will be in conversation with the acclaimed scholar of Iranian cinema, Hamid Naficy, author most recently of A Social History of Iranian Cinema and a professor at Northwestern University.