Denmark, France, Iran, United Kingdom, United States / 76 min / 2025
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Millions of Afghan men and women live in Iran without permanent legal status or protection. Sixteen-year-old Soraya suffers domestic abuse as well as the inability to freely decide her own future.
Soraya documents her daily life and fears on a mobile phone, capturing her attempts to escape to Europe to reunite with her mother, as well as the bruises left by her violent domestic partner. These intimate recordings are later transformed into a cinematic narrative from afar by director Mehrdad Oskouei. In her visual diary, Soraya also captures moments of fleeting freedom through singing, dancing, and art. Her artwork—featuring recurring motifs of a fox, a pink moon, and a clown—becomes the film’s central visual language, allowing her to express, in her own terms, the injustices, economic dependence, and gender inequality she faces.
The film won the Best Director award at the One World Festival 2026 for directors Mehrdad Oskouei and Soraya Akhlaghi.
The jury praised their masterful directorial vision in a story that connects different worlds and cultures into a single, powerful, and unmistakable whole, both visually and content-wise.
Directed By:
Mehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhlaghi
Country of Origin:
Denmark, France, Iran, United Kingdom, United States
Year:
2025
Duration:
76 min
Subtitles:
Czech, English
Accessibility:
English friendly
Topics:
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