It Turns Blue
2023 · 15m · Iran, Greece
Directed by Shadi Karamroudi
Genres: drama
Tones: contemplative, dark, tense
When a father assaults his three-year-old daughter, his sister Pari faces an unbearable choice: protect her brother or protect the child.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Karamroudi's instinct to film horror from a cold distance is the kind of formal choice that makes the ethical stakes physically felt. SXSW Grand Jury winner.
Iranian domestic-violence drama from a woman director, refusing the sensational treatment of child abuse — sixteen minutes, festival cred, the formal restraint described is exactly what this material requires. Yes.
Karamroudi works in the Farhadi register — moral catastrophe staged with cool, distanced framing that refuses to anesthetize. The decision to film domestic violence against a three-year-old from a deliberate remove is the riskiest formal gesture here and, by all accounts, the one that earns it.
Reviews
Brilliantly written, powerfully acted and emotionally layered in its filmmaking, it makes full use of its 15 minute runtime.
Festivals
- SXSW 2023, Grand Jury Award, Narrative Short
- Busan International Short Film Festival 2023, Grand Prix