.jpg "A poster for “Hush! Girls Don’t Scream”")
TEHRAN -- Director Puran Derakhshandeh wanted to screen her acclaimed social drama “Hush! Girls Don’t Scream” at schools in Iran, but her wish came true in Australia.
Derakhshandeh travelled to Melbourne last month to attend a screening of the film during the Conference on West and Central Asia, which was held at the Faculty of Arts of Monash University from March 14 to 16.
The film also was shown for students at a school in Melbourne and the University of Sydney.
“What I had wished would come true in my country was fulfilled in Australia,” Derakhshandeh told the Persian service of ISNA on Sunday.
“This film was screened at Monash University and a university in Sydney and it was warmly received every time,” she added.
“But, what made me happy was that I watched the movie with students at a school in Melbourne. Because, ‘Hush!’ is an educational movie and from the start, I had hoped to screen the film for families and teachers at schools across Iran,”
The film tells the story of Shirin, who murders her building’s doorman on her wedding night. As she is interrogated by the police, and the case gradually unravels, it becomes clear that she suffered sexual abuse in her childhood and her act of homicide was to save another child from being abused.
“The film is intended for an audience of teachers and families, because it studies their role in allowing such a problem to arise,” Derakhshandeh said.
Derakhshandeh also attended review sessions that were held after each screening at the Australian universities.
“The sessions provided opportunities for me to talk with students, most of whom were from Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey,” she stated.
“They were deeply affected by the film and their questions about the film showed that the subject of the film is a global issue,” she added.
Derakhshandeh will leave Iran to Chicago next week to attend a screening of “Hush! Girls Don’t Scream” at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art on April 16.
MMS/YAW
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