Past Film/Video | Documentaries

Sunless Shadows

(Sayeha-ye bikhorshid, Mehrdad Oskouei, 2019)

Stream | Columbus Premiere

A view of six women in hijabs lying with eyes closed on a carpet

In this follow-up to Starless Dreams (2016), Tehran-based filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei goes inside an Iranian juvenile prison where young women serving sentences for murdering an abusive male family member share their stories.

One by one, Oskouei invites the women to go into a room by themselves, push the red button on the camera there, and address their accomplices or victims. The filmmaker builds a remarkable relationship with these inmates, observing their frank conversations and playful interactions, and they privately begin to open up about the reasons for and consequences of their actions. Through this confessional approach, combined with his ever-deepening relationships with his subjects, Oskouei presents a memorably candid picture of these young women and the prison that, ironically, provides them a kind of shelter in an aggressively male-dominated society. (74 mins., digital video) in Persian with English subtitles.

Oskouei’s companion film, Starless Dreams, is currently available on Kanopy.

"A startling, raw confrontation with Iran’s patriarchy."
New York Times

More about the film

A view of six women in hijabs lying with eyes closed on a carpet

Image courtesy of Cinema Guild

Seven young women are seated together in front of bunk beds

Image courtesy of Cinema Guild

Two women talk via phone separated by glass in a prison

Image courtesy of Cinema Guild

Six young women and an infant stand around a table next to another woman blowing out candles on a birthday cake

Image courtesy of Cinema Guild

Seen in profile, a young woman holds an infant's hand in front of a mirror

Image courtesy of Cinema Guild

MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
Ohio Arts Council
American Electric Power Foundation
The Columbus Foundation
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Nationwide Foundation

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Huntington Bank
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Kaufman Development
Cardinal Health Foundation

 

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Past Film/Video

Sunless Shadows