Film Series

Mehrdad Oskouei

Wednesday, October 12 & Thursday, October 13

Mehrdad Oskouei, based in Tehran, is one of Iran’s most prominent documentary filmmakers. His work centers on aspects of Iranian society that are rarely seen in any depth elsewhere. His 24 films take viewers into the world of Iranian orphans, widowers, juvenile delinquents, rhinoplasty, rural wives and urban youth.

Mehrdad Oskouei’s films have received numerous awards from national and international festivals, including best documentary at the Amnesty International Film Festival. He was nominated as best young Iranian filmmaker of the year in 2004 and 2005.

Click here for the full schedule of events.

All films are FREE and open to the public.

761

The Other Side of the Burka

The Other Side of the Burka investigates the high female suicide rates in a patriarchal enclave in southern Iran. The women tell their own stories, describe their suffering and discuss their situation with honesty and clarity in close-up face-to-face interviews; documentary facts -of the women’s rooms, work, routines and the community rituals enacted to deal with symptoms are interwoven with evocative metaphors and moments of psychological pain.

  • Director: Mehrdad Oskouei
  • Runtime: 52 minutes

765

It’s Always Late for Freedom

It’s Always Late for Freedom looks at the social problems of addiction, poverty, and divorce that Iranian society faces through the stories of three teenage boys in the Tehran House of Correction.

  • Director: Mehrdad Oskouei
  • Runtime: 52 minutes

764

Nose, Iranian Style & The Last Days of Winter

Followed by Q&A with the director

In Nose, Iranian Style (2005, 52 minutes), Oskouei considers the epidemic of nose jobs in contemporary Iran, the world leader in rhinoplasty with an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 operations each year. Young Iranians eagerly change their noses to model images in European and American fashion magazines. With a light touch, Oskouei listens to patients and surgeons comment on this phenomenon.

In his latest film, The Last Days of Winter (US premiere, 52 minutes), Oskouei follows a group of juvenile offenders on a special holiday excursion to Iran’s northern coast on the Caspian Sea, offering an in-depth look into the anxieties and concerns of the young “deliquents.”

  • Director: Mehrdad Oskouei
  • Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes

Presented by the Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Williams College.