Dresden hosting Iran’s ‘The Fourth Wall’

Iranian short flick ‘The Fourth Wall’ has been competing at the 2022 edition of the Filmfest Dresden, International Short Film Festival in Germany.

Written and made by Mahboubeh Kalaee and produced by the Documentary and Experimental Film Center in Tehran, the director has mixed animated objects with hand-painted illustrations and filmed them using a roving camera. The result is an innovative method that brilliantly blurs the lines between fiction and reality.

In ‘The Fourth Wall’, home and family, relationships, desires, wishes and everything are summarized in a kitchen. A stuttering boy is alone playing with his imagination.

“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 10-minute animation won the “Zlatko Grgić Award” at the World Festival of Animated Film Animafest Zagreb in Croatia, the best film award at the International Fantoche Animation Festival in Switzerland, “Mephisto 97.6 Award” at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (DOK Leipzig) in Germany, the best film award at the Iran Fest in Italy, Best Experimental Short Film award at the MONSTRA - Lisbon Animation Festival in Portugal, Best Animation Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival, and an honorable mention at the Leeds International Film Festival in the UK.

‘The Fourth Wall’ was screened at several global events, including the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, the BFI London Film Festival in the UK, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, the Sundance Film Festival in the US, the London Short Film Festival in the UK, the Tehran International Animation Festival in Iran, and the Animest International Animation Film Festival in Romania.

According to the official website of the festival, “FILMFEST DRESDEN was founded in 1989, the short film festival focuses on short film in all its facets, and has become one of the most important festivals of its kind throughout Germany.”

The 34th edition of the German festival has been slated for April 5-10, 2022.

Read more:

Iranian animation ‘The Fourth Wall’ releases trailer

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

Iranian animation ‘The Fourth Wall’ wins in Croatia

Leeds filmfest honors Iranian animation ‘The Fourth Wall’

‘The Fourth Wall’ awarded at Iran Fest in Italy

Portugal MONSTRA awards Iran ‘The Fourth Wall’

‘The Fourth Wall’ wins award at Japan Media Arts fest

MG/AG