Land of Dreams

Government-employed dream catcher breaks protocol in Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari’s poetic satire, with vibes of Paris, Texas, Lynch, and Capitol in Hunger Games.

Simin works for the government authority Census in a future USA and travels around to collect people’s dreams – so that the state can control the citizens’ subconscience. As a secret side project, she takes portraits of everyone, then dresses up and reads the dreams in Farsi, on her YouTube channel. Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari (Women without Men) takes the pulse of the American dream in a surrealist satire that mixes dream-like elements with vibrant, twisted scenes, where the eccentric characters seem to lack limitations. Matt Dillon shows up as the has-been cop, now bodyguard, Villain, and Isabella Rossellini arranges a flipped-out family dinner over Zoom.

• Camilla Larsson