Iranian Mehrdad Oskouei’s ‘Starless Dreams’ won the Amnesty International Film Prize jointly with ‘Fire at Sea’ by Gianfranco Rosi at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), on Saturday (Feb. 20).
For drawing attention to the theme of human rights, Oskouei, 46, received the prize for his film, selected by the independent juries whose members are not selected by the Berlinale, Mehr News Agency reported.
Screened in the ‘Generation’ section of the festival, ‘Starless Dreams’ is a documentary which zooms inside the walls of an Iranian center of correction and rehabilitation where girls, women and underage mothers end up after becoming involved in crime.
Yet, instead of being cold-blooded criminals, they are friendly, warm young people who laugh, sing and cry together. Their close bonds are forged by the troubled past they share. The film seeks to show their fears of having to return to the lives they have left behind.
The international distribution of the film is by the French company DreamLab Films.
Rosi and Oskouei will share the $5,500 prize for their documentaries.
Oskouei is a director, producer, screenwriter and instructor of documentary films. So far, he has made eight films which have been shown in over 20 international festivals and won some awards as well.
