When foreign dignitaries are expected in Tehran, the local authorities dedicate themselves to an "urban beautification" process which includes the rounding up of unsavory characters - drug addicts and prostitutes - from the streets. The men are released after a few days, but the women are kept as wards of the state in perpetuity. They are sent to holding centers on the outskirts of the city where no records are kept by the social workers. This animated documentary attempts to give a voice to homeless women taken off the streets against their will, stripped of their rights and kept incarcerated until their death.—Anonymous

In Iran, homeless street people are known as "the cardboard box sleepers." With compassionate irony, The Unseen (Kaghaz-pareh ha) uses the same humble medium to tell truths too harsh to be spoken face-to-face. Graphic artist and documaker Behzad Nalbandi spent five years preparing and editing the film, a remarkably intimate portrait of five unfortunate women living in a shelter in Tehran that gets under the skin. Yet none of them appears on screen. Their recorded voices fill the mouths of animated figures, creating a distancing effect that makes their sad stories palatable and, dare one say, novel for audiences who would give straight documentary a pass. Running just over an hour, this unusual animated doc reveals an uncomfortable reality normally hidden from view, and its premiere at the Fajr Film Festival should be followed by plenty of festival dates.—behnishal