Hot Docs 2008

In this eye-opening and hopeful portrait of a Tehranian youth correctional centre, filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei introduces us to a small group of teenage boys serving sentences related to violence, theft and drugs. We follow three in particular, each of whom demonstrates an unlikely blend of world-weary toughness, street-smarts and a mature compassion. Their troubled circumstance suggests that they have been surrendered by their families, and the country, to the growing Iranian epidemics of addiction and poverty. In the face of adult abandonment, though, the three discover the simple joys of childhood and friendship through a "boys will be boys" routine of mischief, pranks and sports. In intimate interviews they open up, sharing fierce hopes and tender frustrations for their lives beyond the centre's walls; but Oskouei always delicately pulls back from showing us too much of their families and outside lives. This is a heartbreaking and heartwarming film of generations lost and childhood found.
-Brett Hendrie