This cinematic event, which will be held from October 6 to 11 in Florence, Italy, will be opened with the documentary, ‘Sunless Shadows,’ directed by Mehrdad Oskouei, followed by 12 other Iranian films, ISNA reported.
‘Sunless Shadows’ is about an Iranian juvenile detention center in which adolescent girls serve sentences for the crimes of murdering fathers, husbands, or male family members. Through frank conversations and playful interactions, the girls open up about the consequences of, and sometimes the reasons for, their actions.
The documentary has already participated in a number of international events, including the DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival in Finland, Big Sky International Film Festival in the US, the True/False Film Festival in the US, the Geneva International Film Festival, and Forum on Human Rights in Switzerland, and the ZagrebDox festival in Croatia.
Among many honors gained by the film, Oskouei received the Best Director award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in the Netherlands.
The film, ‘The Wasteland,’ directed by Ahmad Bahrami, which recently won the Best Film award in the Horizon (Orizzonti) section at the Venice Film Festival will also appear on the Italian screen.
The feature documentaries will be ‘Formerly Youth Square’ by Mina Akbari; ‘The Friend’s House,’ directed by Mohammadreza Eini; ‘In the Heart of Stone,’ co-directed by Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eini; ‘Shouting at the Wind,’ co-directed by Siavash Jamali and Ata Mehrad.
‘Jirleh,’ directed by Bahar Rouhani, along with the short animation, ‘Hunger,’ by Zahra Rostampour, will be screened in the animation sections.
The short films, ‘Elephant Chicken,’ directed by Amir Massoud Soheili; ‘Order,’ by Farshid Abdi; ‘Life Gone with the Wind,’ by Siavash Saedpanah and Omid Gharibi; ‘Silent Lantern,’ co-produced by Farshad Ghaffari and Payam Laghari will be screened as part of this special program at the Italian festival.
“The Middle East Now festival is organized by MAP OF CREATION, a non-profit cultural association based in Florence, which is active in producing documentary films and hosting cultural events,” according to the official website of the festival.
Source: Iran Daily