“Sunless Shadows” director Mehrdad Oskui on ZagrebDox jury

TEHRAN –(Iranart)- Mehrdad Oskui, the Iranian director of the acclaimed documentary “Sunless Shadows”, has been selected as a member of the jury at ZagrebDox, the Croatian international documentary festival.

Oliver Sertic, a documentary producer and festival programmer, and Franka Perkovic Gamulin, the director of the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art, are other members of the jury, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Monday.

“Around 80 documentary short and feature-length titles will present extraordinary and important stories, burning issues and intriguing topics both from the global stage and the from local settings,” announced the organizers of the festival, which is scheduled to be held from June 13 to 20.

Oskui’s “Sunless Shadows” won an honorable mention at the 2020 ZagrebDox.

In the documentary, Oskui managed to build a remarkable relationship with these inmates, whose frank conversations and playful interactions he observes, and who gradually open up about the consequences of, and sometimes the reasons for, their terrible acts. 

He occasionally leaves them alone with the camera, allowing it to become a means for them to address both their victims and their accomplices. Three of the girls had killed their fathers with the help of their mothers, who await execution elsewhere.

Earlier in 2017, his “Starless Dreams” won the Teen Dox Award for the best film at ZagrebDox.

The documentary shows the lives of seven young teenage girls sharing temporary quarters at a rehabilitation and detention center on the outskirts of Tehran.

source: Tehran Times