Det Means Girl focuses on young Schawan, a factory guard and also a caterer. His crippled sister Baloot and his father come to see him to seek medical treatment for the girl. The efforts of Schawan and his father however prove futile. They even resort to magic and talisman rituals to save the girl’s life.The film emphasises Jalili’s narrative style, which is becoming less conventional. Metaphors and symbolic references make the ending open to interpretations. In this film, Jalili’s main concern is a pictorial language, which results in powerful images that would inspire other artists, such as Shirin Nishat’s images of women inscribed with texts.Det Means Girl was only distributed on a limited scale and has been screened only a couple of times in Teheran, strictly during festivals. The film won awards in Venice and at Le Festival des Trois Continents in Nantes.
