Eurasia festival to host Iran animation

The 2017 Eurasia International Film Festival in Astana, Kazakhstan, has scheduled to screen the Iranian animation ‘Kelileh & Demneh’.

The festival’s website announced that the animation, directed by Alireza Tavakkoli-Bina, will be screened in the Children’s Fest Competition.

Kelileh and Demneh are two young jackals. The drama starts in the middle of a rainy night when the horrified owl pays a visit to the king of the jungle to report about the excessive hunting he had witnessed.

‘Kelileh & Demneh’ is the Persian version of ‘The Panchatantra’, which is a Sanskrit ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.

The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed around the 3rd century, is based on older oral traditions, including animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine.

Born in 1962 in Tehran, director Tavakkoli-Bina studied Computer-Aided Design in the US and UK. He has directed a number of short films and TV series. He has published more than 40 children books.

Established in 1998 in Kazakhstan, the Eurasia International Film Festival is the major film forum in Central Asia.

The Festival’s main goals are to support the film industry in Kazakhstan, to further the appreciation of motion picture arts for people of all ages, and to build the platform for successful cooperation between Asia and Europe.

This edition of the festival is slated for July 22-28, 2017.

MG/AI