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2020
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Sunless Shadows

Sunless Shadows

74' 2019
dir.: Mehrdad Oskouei

An Iranian correctional facility for teenage girls convicted of the crimes against their attackers: their fathers, husbands, and brothers.

In his latest film, Mehrdad Oskouei, one of the most outstanding documentary filmmakers of our time, takes on the topic of violence against women. The protagonists in Sunless Shadows are teenagers serving prison sentences in a correctional facility in Iran for crimes against their attackers: their fathers, husbands, and brothers. Oskouei observes with terrifying precision the accursed cycle of systemic oppression that is passed down from generation to generation, the only reprieve from which, paradoxically, is a prison term. The director masterfully shows the everyday life of adolescent girls—filled with sadness, but also with the joy and hope that come from sisterhood. Sunless Shadows is undoubtedly one of the most universal portraits of our time, as both viewers and juries have claimed at many of the world’s leading film festivals.

Tadeusz Strączek

Festivals
Kraków FF 2020 – Student Jury Award
Zagrebdox 2020 – Jury’s Special Mention
CPH:DOX 2020
DOK.fest München 2020
DokuFest 2020
IDFA 2019 – Best Director Award
74' 2019 Iran, Norway
Director
Mehrdad Oskouei
Cinematography
Mehdi Azadi
Editing
Amir Adibparvar
Production
Oskouei Film Production