The festival was held in the U.S. city of Missoula, Montana from February 14 to 23.

In Sunless Shadows, Oskui builds a remarkable relationship with a group of adolescent girls who are serving their sentences for the grave crime of murdering their father, their husband or another male family member in an Iranian juvenile detention center.

“We award ‘Sunless Shadows’ with an honorable mention for exposing the desperation and resiliency of young Iranian women serving time at a juvenile detention center, and the unlikely opportunity that their incarceration allows them as they form tight friendships and are able to speak freely about their regrets and hopes,” the jury wrote in a statement.

I Am Not Alone by Garin Hovannisian from Armenia was selected as best feature documentary while the award for best short documentary went to Colette by American filmmaker Anthony Giacchino.

The Big Sky Award was presented to Public Trust by American filmmaker David Garrett Byars and A Bold Experiment co-directed by Andrew Miller and  Alexander Milan from the U.S. was picked as best mini-documentary.

Source: Tehran Times