German fest’s awards goes to Iranian ‘Fourth Wall’

The International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (DOK Leipzig) in Germany has awarded Iranian animation ‘Fourth Wall’.

Written and directed by Mahboubeh Kalaee, the Iranian flick won the award for best animation “Mephisto 97.6 Award” at the 64th edition of the German event.

In the 10-minute animation, home and family, relationships, desires, wishes and everything are summarized in a kitchen. A stuttering boy is alone playing with his imaginations.

“A  stuttering  boy  transforms  an  Iranian  kitchen  into  a  fantastic  cosmos.  The father’s body becomes a refrigerator, the mother’s belly a washing machine whose spin cycle gives birth to a screaming baby. Even birds on tiles and detergents have a surprising life of their own. This exuberant animation, dotted with real-life elements – fried eggs, broken plates, chess pieces – develops a subtle wit, ironizing ingrained family patterns,” a synopsis for the animation reads.

‘The Fourth Wall’ was screened at some global events, including the BFI London Film Festival in the UK, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, the Animest International Animation Film Festival in Romania, the World Festival of Animated Film Animafest Zagreb in Croatia, where it won the jury award titled “Zlatko Grgić Award”, and the International Fantoche Animation Festival in Switzerland, where it received the best film award.

The DOK Leipzig is one of the leading festivals for documentary and animated film. The festival, being the first in the world to combine these two genres, is built on more than 60 years of history and tradition.

The DOK Leipzig is a celebration of films with the highest artistic and innovative approaches to storytelling, embodying our values of peace, tolerance, human dignity and freedom of expression.

The 64th edition of the DOK Leipzig was held on October 25-October 31, 2021.

The 62nd edition of the event honored Iranian short titles ‘Asho’ and ‘Am I a Wolf?’ in 2019.

Read more:

Iranian animation ‘The Fourth Wall’ wins in Croatia

MG/MG