Starless Dreams | Roʾyāhā-ye dam-e ṣobḥ | رؤیاهای دم صبح

Starless Dreams is a documentary set inside an all-girls correction and rehabilitation center on the outskirts of Tehran, where teenage detainees, some underage mothers and some already married, live together under tight security. As the New Year approaches, a small group of girls form an intense, sisterly bond, laughing, singing, dancing, and crying as they speak with striking openness about what brought them there: drug trafficking, assault, robbery, and even murder. Filmed with intimate restraint, the film foregrounds their warmth and dignity while also tracing the fear that awaits beyond the facility, especially the possibility of being sent back to the same dangerous circumstances and families they once tried to escape.