Human Rights Film Festival Berlin hosting ‘The Silhouettes’

The 2021 edition of the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin (HRFFB) in Germany has been hosting Iranian award-winning documentary ‘The Silhouettes’.

Directed by Afsaneh Salari, the 80-minute documentary is about an Afghan family that had left the homeland 40 years ago to start a new life in Iran.

Now their son who is an engineering student wants to return to Afghanistan to live and work there, but the family opposes his plan.

“At the height of the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1982, 1.5 million Afghans undertook the long journey to the border of Iran to flee the war. Taghi, born after that generation, is unwilling to surrender to the restrictions imposed on him and his parents in Iran. Since Afghans in Iran are only allowed to work in manual labor, Taghi plans to move back to his home country, which he has never known. What future awaits him in Afghanistan, where war remains part of people's lives today?” the website of the HRFFB reads.

‘The Silhouettes’ recently won Next Award at the 13th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival in South Korea.

The doc has also gone on screen at a number of global events and won honors such as ‘Docs In Progress’ award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, special mention at the Visions du Réel in Switzerland, first prize at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival in Nepal, and Emerging Filmmaker award at the Thin Line Film Music Fest in the US.

The website of the HRFFB writes the 2021 edition of the event is “a hybrid on- & offline festival under the headline title ‘The Art of Change’. For 10 days, the festival will focus on stories of courageous people from all corners of the world - through a selection of around 40 outstanding, inspiring, touching and insightful documentaries.

This year, for the second time, the festival will be complemented by a forum offering art, culture and film professionals, activists, representatives of civil society organizations and academics a platform to discuss interdisciplinary approaches, exchange knowledge and learn from each other.”

The 2021 edition of the HRFFB has been slated for September 16-25 in Germany's capital city.

Read more:

Iran’s ‘The Silhouettes’ wins at Swiss festival

Iranian ‘The Silhouettes’ wins in Czech Republic

‘The Silhouettes’ wins award at Thin Line filmfest

‘The Silhouettes’ wins top prize at Kathmandu filmfest

DMZ Int’l Documentary Film Festival awards ‘The Silhouettes’

MG/MG