Iranian documentarian to judge at Jean Rouch Film Festival

Iranian documentarian Mehrdad Oskouei is set to judge at the 36th edition of the Jean Rouch International Film Festival in France.

The Iranian filmmaker is selected as a member of the international section jury at the Jean Rouch International Film Festival in Paris, France.

Oskouei won the Grand Prix Nanook at the 35th edition of the Jean Rouch International Film Festival for his documentary ‘Starless Dreams’.

‘My Mother’s Home’, ‘Lagoon’, ‘The Other Side of Burka’, ‘Maryam of Hengam Island’, and ‘The Last Days of Winter’ are among other titles made by the documentarian.

The 76-minute ‘Starless Dreams’ shows young women in an Iranian juvenile detention center reflecting on the crimes they have committed and the circumstances that have shaped their lives.

The documentary has grabbed a number of prestigious awards and titles from various film events. Just in 2016, the film won the Amnesty International Film Prize at the 66th Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlinale-Generation 14plus in Germany as well as the True Vision Award at the 13th True/False Film Festival in the US.

Oskouei’s production has also received the Grierson Award for the Best Documentary at the 60th BFI London Film Festival and the Children’s Rights Award at the 31st Osnabruck Independent Film Festival in October.

Established on March 1982 by anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch, the event was previously known as Bilan du Film Ethnographique.

The festival is aimed at showcasing the most innovative and relevant trends in ethnographic film-making, visual anthropology, and to promote dialogue between cultures.

The festival selects films and documentaries on human societies and cultures with themes such as social and cultural diversity, continuity and change, cultural transmission, relationship to the environment.

MG/AI