Starless Dreams - Royahaye Dame Sobh - رؤیاهای دم صبح

This brilliant documentary focuses on the lives of girls in a juvenile delinquency centre in Iran. Most of the girls have drug addicts in their family, and almost all have been physically or mentally abused. Although they are being punished for murder, drug dealing and car theft, their biggest crime was to be born in the wrong place. “The pain drips from the walls,” as one inmate says, but despite this the girls find some moments of joy in snowball fights and games of truth or dare, even bursting into impromptu song at one point. The subjects are remarkably open when answering Mehrdad Oskouei’s unflinchingly direct questions and talk about their crimes in matter-of-fact fashion, but when asked what they’ll do when they’re released, many would prefer to stay in the relative safety of detention. When their abusive families pick them up at the gates, it’s heartbreaking to think about what their future holds.