🔷Iranian Documentary “Digital Baby” Shines at Italy’s Lucania Film Festival
🔻The Iranian documentary “Digital Baby,” directed by Mohammad Ahmadi, has won the 2026 Pasolini Award at the Lucania Film Festival in Italy, marking an international achievement for a film that brings together scientific research, clinical experience, and documentary storytelling to address one of the key challenges facing children in the digital age.
🔻The documentary focuses on the effects of excessive use of smartphones, tablets, television, and other digital media on children’s development and neurodevelopment. Its scientific content is based on research and clinical experience from specialists at the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences at Shahid Beheshti University and the Tehran Autism Center.
🔻Professor Hamidreza Pouretemad, founder of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences at Shahid Beheshti University and the Tehran Autism Center, alongside Dr. Saeed Sadeghi and other members of the specialist team, contributed to the scientific guidance of the documentary. In addition to examining how patterns of screen use can affect different aspects of child development, the film emphasizes the importance of professional assessment, timely intervention, and managing children’s engagement with digital media.
🔻Beyond its artistic recognition, winning the Pasolini Award provides an opportunity to showcase Iran’s scientific and clinical capacities in cognitive sciences, child development, and neurodevelopment on the international stage.
As part of the filmmakers’ social responsibility efforts to raise public awareness, “Digital Baby” has been made available free of charge to audiences in Iran.
🔻The international success of “Digital Baby” also highlights the potential of science and culture as instruments of Iran’s public diplomacy. By bringing an issue of shared global concern to international audiences through the knowledge and perspectives of Iranian researchers and artists, initiatives of this kind can create new channels for dialogue across societies. They also demonstrate that the international engagement is not limited to formal forums and meetings; science, cinema, art, and content creation can all serve as effective avenues for international dialogue and for presenting Iran’s capacities to the world.
🎥 Watch the documentary for free:
Watch “Digital Baby”
|Youth Diplomacy Center|
@ydc_iran
