Iran doc ‘Starless Dreams’ wins awards in Hungary

Iranian documentary ‘Starless Dreams’ has received two awards at the 2018 edition of the Budapest International Documentary Festival in Hungary.

The documentary was picked as the best documentary in a section titled “They’re Innocent” and won another award from the student jury.

The film went on screen at the competition section along with more than 40 films from Denmark, Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain, France, Croatia and Mexico among others.

Mehrdad Oskouei’s ‘Starless Dreams’ follows a group of under-18-year-old girls taken into a rehabilitation and detention center on the outskirts of Tehran for a variety of reasons ranging from drug dealing and trafficking to pick-pocketing and manslaughter.

Though bored with their incarcerated life they are, nevertheless, scared about what might happen to them once outside; as the New Year approaches, they all hope to celebrate it with their families.

Director Oskouei, one of Iran’s most prominent filmmakers, spent seven years securing access to this all-female facility, and he makes the awkwardness of being a male filmmaker in their environment a poignant and powerful aspect of his project.

The 76-minute doc 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.

Known as the biggest Hungarian film event, Budapest International Documentary Festival screens films that depict human destiny, problems and social issues across continents.

The 2018 edition of the Budapest International Documentary Festival was held January 23-28.

MG/MF