“Sunless Shadows” named best in Italian festival’s competition for Iranian films

Tehran. (Iranart)- “Sunless Shadows” directed by Iranian filmmaker Mehrdad Oskui was named best in a special section dedicated to Iranian cinema at the Middle East Now, a film festival in the Italian city of Florence, on Sunday.

The film was screened in Focus on Iran, a section that was one of the initiatives in memory of Felicetta Ferraro, the former Italian cultural attaché to Iran who died on June 2, 2019, in Florence.

“Sunless Shadows” builds a remarkable relationship with a group of adolescent girls who are serving their sentences for the grave crime of murdering their father, their husband, or another male family member in an Iranian juvenile detention center.

“Starvation” by Zahra Rostampur, “Shouting at the Wind” by Siavash Jamali and Ata Mehrad, “Command” by Farshid Abdi, “Elephant Bird” by Amir-Masud Soheili, “Zhirleh” by Bahar Ruhani, “Life Is Gone with the Wind” by Siavash Saedpanah and Omid Gharibi, “The Wasteland” by Ahmad Bahrami and several other films were screened in the section.

The Middle East Now Audience Award went to the Palestinian divorce drama “Between Heaven and Earth” by Najwa Najjar.

The Middle East Now Staff Award for Best Short or Mediometer was given to “Maradona’s Leg”, a co-production between Palestine and Germany by Firas Khoury.

“Brotherwood” by Meryam Joobeur won the Best OFF award that is given by OFF Cinema to the best writer of a short film.

The 11th Middle East Now Festival, postponed from April, was held from October 6 to 11, showcasing cinema, art, and culture from the region and North Africa

Source: Tehran Times