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\n Photo: Kobe Wagstaff\/Courtesy of Zehra Zehra\n <\/p>\n
Zehra Ahmed, who curates under her moniker Zehra Zehra, is the founder of the curatorial and production platform Womxn in Windows. This free exhibition of films (installed in public storefront windows around the world between 2019 and 2021) centers on the ideas of underrepresented womxn (cis, trans, and nonbinary inclusive) on identity and society, told through the moving image. Last year, alongside her frequent collaborator, the musician Kilo Kish, Zehra curated \u201cAmerican Gurl: Seeking \u2026,\u201d a filmic series at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures spotlighting works by women of color. It explored how the American Dream can be reimagined \u201cto include women of color and their hopes and desires, while exploring new ways of dreaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zehra has lived in Los Angeles for a decade \u2014 first in Koreatown, now in Los Feliz. She moved to the city with no clear career plan or community but was encouraged to stick around when someone said she could be whoever and whatever she wanted in L.A. \u201cThere are not many places on this Earth as perfect \u2014 dreamy and delusional,\u201d she wrote recently.<\/p>\n
Where is your go-to spot to see a film?
The Vista Theatre in Los Feliz, the Tarantino one. And the cool thing about it is they play new films. It\u2019s only one theater, so you can\u2019t really choose, but it\u2019s a really fun, cool one. It kind of takes you back to Old Hollywood too because of the interiors. They have the ability to play almost every format. I\u2019ve seen all the new films there, but they also bring back older films. And the sound there is amazing \u2014 it\u2019s incredible. Like your seats shake a little bit, which is fantastic. It\u2019s spacious, and a really nice experience to be inside. Comparable to the Vista, if you want to go a little bit east, is Vidiots. It also has incredible sound, which I think is really important for film in a theater because that\u2019s the part you don\u2019t always get at home \u2014 that fully immersive experience. I would also add the Academy Museum. Their programming is insane, and it\u2019s affordable. And obviously they have access to everything. With all of the theaters, aside from being top-tier quality wise, they\u2019re also affordable places. The cool thing with the Academy Museum is they will often bring in special guests for a conversation, like the director or special-effects designer, or anyone who worked on the film really.<\/p>\n
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\n From left: Photo: AaronP\/Bauer-Griffin\/GC ImagesPhoto: Andrew Ge \/ \u00a9Academy Museum Foundation\n <\/p>\n
\n From top: Photo: AaronP\/Bauer-Griffin\/GC ImagesPhoto: Andrew Ge \/ \u00a9Academy Museum Foundation\n <\/p>\n
Especially in Los Angeles, it\u2019s important to have an incredible film experience \u2014 it shouldn\u2019t feel regular, because this is the film city. In terms of programming, I also think 2220 Arts is a really diverse and interesting space for film, music, and performance. People talk about lots of different voices; they partner with so many organizations and have a lot of resident curators, all of these different people from different spaces all programming in this one space.<\/p>\n
Where\u2019s your go-to place or resource for your own curatorial research as you\u2019re building out a project?
The internet, unfortunately. More so than the internet, though, I think it\u2019s the people over the years that I\u2019ve started following, like independent filmmakers I\u2019ve worked with that I constantly ask for recommendations of people that they know of or that they\u2019ve seen work of. One of the things we focus on is finding new or younger people whose work hasn\u2019t been shown \u2014 and by young I mean filmmakers who are still early on in their career, and their work isn\u2019t easy to find in the archive or online. So you have to kind of constantly ask people for who\u2019s in their network and dig really deep into the internet.<\/p>\n
I also go through a lot of festival programs and watch them online. Tons. All of the big festivals, I\u2019ll go through the shorts programs especially because those are always harder to find. Like Blackstar, I always see what they\u2019re up to because it\u2019s one of the few places that really gets all the folks of color in one place, and you can see that. Sundance, South by Southwest, Tribeca \u2026 Telluride is a great one to find some insane work. I save all the festival programs as PDFs.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your go-to prescreening or post-screening spot to get a bite or a glass of wine, either by yourself, with your friend, or on a date night?
If I\u2019m sticking to my neighborhood, honestly Little Dom\u2019s. Basically up and down Hillhurst Avenue. Little Dom\u2019s, Encanto, and Wilde\u2019s \u2026 wherever I can get a spot. And then if I ever see a film at the Los Feliz 3, I love getting a burger at Goldburger or stopping by the Dresden. They always have live jazz there. So if I go out, watch a film, then walk to the Dresden for a martini and music, it\u2019s really fun.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your favorite spot to pick up a gift for a friend who\u2019s into film and art? Photo: Courtesy of Zehra Zehra\n <\/p>\n Stay in touch.<\/p>\n The latest in style, self, culture, and power in your inbox.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
Because I come from a design background and I\u2019m obsessed with the arts, I love buying people things for their home. I love getting like an overpriced candle, so if I can go to Loewe and buy you their tomato-scented candle \u2014 which is ridiculous but comes in a beautiful clay vessel\u00a0\u2014 I will. If I love you enough, I\u2019ll do it. Also, an overpriced soap. There\u2019s a store near me, Pierce and Ward,<\/a> that sells these Japanese fish soaps that are really large and you can hang in a bathroom and have a pomegranate scent. When a box design is nice too, it just feels special.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/abb6d3cdbddb2c9c03ea8912df32ba9614-Welcome-Soap-in-Pomegranate-Pierce-and-W.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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