Synopsis
For five years, teenage Soraya Akhalaghi filmed key moments of her life on a mobile phone. During this time, she created striking drawings and sculptures while attempting to escape Iran, fleeing a violent husband to join her mother in Austria. The director gives Soraya a voice, abandoning a traditional documentary structure in favor of a form built on images, gestures, and symbols. As a result, she simultaneously becomes the protagonist, co-creator, and narrator of her own story.
Awards
Best Feature-Length Documentary, IDFA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2025; Best Film, International Competition, ZagrebDox, Croatia, 2026; Jury Award/Audience Award, Docville, Leuven, Belgium, 2026; Stefan Jarl International Documentary Award, Tempo Documentary Festival, Stockholm, Sweden, 2026.
Mehrdad Oskouei
Born in Tehran in 1969, Mehrdad Oskouei is an independent, Iranian documentary filmmaker, producer, lecturer and photographer. He is a graduate of Tehran’s University of Arts. His films have been screened at numerous festivals, won many awards and achieved great critical acclaim, making him one of the major Iranian documentary makers of today. In 2010, the Netherlands awarded him the Prince Claus Award. Retrospectives of his work have been held at events such as Anthology Film Archives (New York, 2018), Doc Point Helsinki Film Festival (Finland, 2020) and at the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) (New York, 2020). Oskouei has also sat on several international film festival juries, including the 36th Jean Rouch Film Festival (Paris, France, 2016), CPH:DOX (Denmark, 2017) and several others.
Selected Filmography
My Mother's Home, Lagoon (2000), The Other Side of Burka (2004), Nose, Iranian Style (2005), It's always late for freedom (2007), The Taste of Iran (episode 1&4, 2009), The Last Days of Winter (2011), Starless Dreams (2016), Sunless Shadows (2019), A Fox Under a Pink Moon (2025).
Soraya Akhlaghi
Soraya Akhlaghi is a multidisciplinary artist working in the fields of sculpture, painting, and film. She began sculpting in 2016 and, by 2025, had created over 200 papier-mâché sculptures. In 2017, she expanded her practice to painting. From 2018 to 2025, she was a cinematographer, sound engineer, and co-director of the film A Fox Under A Pink Moon, directed and produced by Mehrdad Oskouei, in which she was also the protagonist.
Filmography
A Fox Under a Pink Moon (2025).
