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Fri Dec 04 2026 at 07:00 pm to 09:15 pm UTC-05:00

The Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One

  • 1050 Independence Ave SW, Washington D.C., DC, United States, Washington, District of Columbia 20013 · Washington
Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art Publisher / Host Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art
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The Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One
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We conclude our series Beyond Aladdin: The Thousand and One Nights on Film with Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes’s ambitious trilogy that transports the tales’ narrator, Scheherazade, to modern Portugal. There, she weaves a tapestry of stories blending comedy, emotion, and documentary. Though they work together as a trilogy, each film stands alone.
The first volume juxtaposes three absurdist tales of life under Portugal’s austerity measures in the 2010s, linked in the same surprising ways as The Thousand and One Nights. A rooster is put on trial for crowing too early in the morning. A mermaid emerges from a whale that explodes. And a group of impotent economists search for a cure (an apt metaphor for Portugal’s economic condition at the time).
Intended for mature audiences.
Cost: free, register in advance recommended.
Image courtesy of Kino Lorber.
Director: Miguel Gomes. Countries: Portugal, Germany, France, Switzerland. Released: 2015. Length: 126 min. Format: DCP. Languages: Portuguese, English, French, German, and Mandarin with English subtitles.
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1050 Independence Ave SW, Washington D.C., DC, United States, Washington, District of Columbia 20013

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