Marmar is living through a devastating war – but she’d rather tell you about her new dress

Based on the British-Iranian filmmaker Maryam Mohajer’s experiences of life during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, Red Dress. No Straps. (2018) explores the sunny naivety of Marmar, a young girl living amid the conflict. At school, Marmar is instructed to say ‘Death to America’ each day. But at home, her grandfather tunes into Voice of America radio, and her uncle sends her countless pictures from his life in the United States, where he’s training to become a professor. However, she’s far less concerned by these contradictory messages about the world than by the small intrigues of her everyday life, like eavesdropping on gossiping adults and eagerly awaiting the strapless red dress her grandmother has promised to make for her, emulating one worn by her favourite American pop star. With an emotive visual style and a playful piano score that evoke the innocence of childhood, Mohajer’s highly original BAFTA-winning short deftly draws out the jarring realities of living, and not living, through war.