YOUTH BEHIND BARS: The Iran Trilogy
Price: $875.00 Code: 2538 |
Directed by Mehrdad Oskouei
2007-2016, Total running time: 181 minutes
Purchase of complete set: $875 (a savings of 20% off individual titles)
For many years Mehrdad Oskouei, "Iran's most prominent documentary filmmaker" (The New York Times) struggled to win official permission to document Tehran's juvenile detention facilities. Oskouei's patience has proved virtuous. Spending over a decade within the walls, Oskouei interviews young teens, who are incredibly open and frank on their life stories.
In this harrowing trilogy, Oskouei brilliantly captures the lives of his subjects through sincere and playful interactions, which show them to be neither villains nor heroes. They are those who have grown up too fast - abandoned to find their own means of survival. "Pain drips from the walls," one inmate murmurs in Starless Dreams. Through Oskouei's lens pass laughter, tears, but also hope and dreams for the future.
While Starless Dreams portrays the female experience in Iran’s juvenile justice system, the first two installments, It's Always Late for Freedom and The Last Days of Winter, focus on boys behind bars. Youth Behind Bars: The Iran Trilogy is a groundbreaking, unforgettable documentary trilogy signaling the presence of a major voice in contemporary cinema.
Starless Dreams - 2016, 76 minutes
A stark testimonial of the previously unseen and unheard, award-winning Starless Dreams plunges into the lives of young teenage girls sharing temporary quarters at a rehabilitation and correction center on the outskirts of Tehran. An unforgettable cinematic portrayal of restored innocence and humanity, Starless Dreams is the final installment of the groundbreaking documentary trilogy Youth Behind Bars: The Iran Trilogy.
The Last Days of Winter - 2011, 52 minutes
Following his harrowing documentary, It’s Always Late for Freedom, director Mehrdad Oskouei continues his exploration of a male juvenile detention facility near Tehran. Last Days of Winter follows these young men in the days leading up to the Iranian New Year, as they take stock of their lives.
It’s Always Late for Freedom - 2007, 53 minutes
Acclaimed filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei provides a rare glimpse into an all-male juvenile detention facility in Iran. It’s Always Late for Freedom is the first film of Oskouei’s trilogy documenting troubled youth in Iran, preceding Last Days of Winter (2011) and Starless Dreams (2016).
"Together, the three films constitute a collective portrait, not only of a prison system coldly unresponsive to kids’ needs and desires, but also of a society as a whole that has locked them into a dreary cycle of violence and repression. Oskouei forcefully suggests that repression is the norm in Iranian society more than any of us realize...Oskouei thus gives voice to those that society at large deems as not worth hearing." - Kenji Fujishima, Kinoscope
2007-2016, Total running time: 181 minutes
Purchase of complete set: $875 (a savings of 20% off individual titles)
For many years Mehrdad Oskouei, "Iran's most prominent documentary filmmaker" (The New York Times) struggled to win official permission to document Tehran's juvenile detention facilities. Oskouei's patience has proved virtuous. Spending over a decade within the walls, Oskouei interviews young teens, who are incredibly open and frank on their life stories.
In this harrowing trilogy, Oskouei brilliantly captures the lives of his subjects through sincere and playful interactions, which show them to be neither villains nor heroes. They are those who have grown up too fast - abandoned to find their own means of survival. "Pain drips from the walls," one inmate murmurs in Starless Dreams. Through Oskouei's lens pass laughter, tears, but also hope and dreams for the future.
While Starless Dreams portrays the female experience in Iran’s juvenile justice system, the first two installments, It's Always Late for Freedom and The Last Days of Winter, focus on boys behind bars. Youth Behind Bars: The Iran Trilogy is a groundbreaking, unforgettable documentary trilogy signaling the presence of a major voice in contemporary cinema.
Starless Dreams - 2016, 76 minutes
A stark testimonial of the previously unseen and unheard, award-winning Starless Dreams plunges into the lives of young teenage girls sharing temporary quarters at a rehabilitation and correction center on the outskirts of Tehran. An unforgettable cinematic portrayal of restored innocence and humanity, Starless Dreams is the final installment of the groundbreaking documentary trilogy Youth Behind Bars: The Iran Trilogy.
The Last Days of Winter - 2011, 52 minutes
Following his harrowing documentary, It’s Always Late for Freedom, director Mehrdad Oskouei continues his exploration of a male juvenile detention facility near Tehran. Last Days of Winter follows these young men in the days leading up to the Iranian New Year, as they take stock of their lives.
It’s Always Late for Freedom - 2007, 53 minutes
Acclaimed filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei provides a rare glimpse into an all-male juvenile detention facility in Iran. It’s Always Late for Freedom is the first film of Oskouei’s trilogy documenting troubled youth in Iran, preceding Last Days of Winter (2011) and Starless Dreams (2016).
Subjects & Collections
Middle Eastern Studies Criminal & Law Cinema Studies Sociology Cultural Studies Family Relations Children & Young Adult Peace & Conflict 2017
Reviews
"Somewhere along the way, these documentaries stop being mere films and become lifelines instead." - Village Voice"Together, the three films constitute a collective portrait, not only of a prison system coldly unresponsive to kids’ needs and desires, but also of a society as a whole that has locked them into a dreary cycle of violence and repression. Oskouei forcefully suggests that repression is the norm in Iranian society more than any of us realize...Oskouei thus gives voice to those that society at large deems as not worth hearing." - Kenji Fujishima, Kinoscope
Related Films
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STARLESS DREAMS
A stark testimonial of the previously unseen and unheard, award-winning Starless Dreams plunges us into the lives of young teenage girls sharing temporary quarters at a rehabilitation and correction center on the outskirts of Tehran. An unforgettable cinematic portrayal of restored innocence and humanity Starless Dreams is the last installment of the groundbreaking documentary trilogy Youth Behind Bars: The Iran Trilogy.
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THE LAST DAYS OF WINTER
Following his harrowing documentary, It's Always Late for Freedom, director Mehrdad Oskouei continues his exploration of a male juvenile detention facility near Tehran. Last Days of Winter follows these young men in the days leading up to the Iranian New Year, as they take stock of their lives.
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IT’S ALWAYS LATE FOR FREEDOM
Acclaimed filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei provides a rare glimpse into an all-male juvenile detention facility in Iran. It's Always Late for Freedom is the first film of Oskouei's trilogy documenting troubled youth in Iran, preceding The Last Days of Winter (2011) and Starless Dreams (2016).
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