World animation day and Iran breakthroughs

Iran has made a breakthrough in the field of animation production over the past few years, with several productions appraised globally, as kids are enjoying the World Animation Day, 2017.

A recent one was ‘Light Sight’ with 8 awards in its bag only within the past 3 months, received from eight international film festivals.

It is the story of a creature named M.E. who is enamored by a white light outside of its room, and tries to escape to reach out for the glow.

Here’s more on the film’s achievements: http://ifilmtv.ir/News/NewsIn/5720/

Yet, another acclaimed animation piece from Iran is ‘Stripy’, that was recommended by the Los Angeles Magazine as one of the eleven must-see flicks on the verge of the world animation day, 2015.

It vied at the 55th Annecy fest in France and also in Anima Mundi international animation festival in Brazil 2017, and was honored at the 9th animation festival in Tehran, Iran.

Part of the synopsis reads ‘All the workers in a factory have been instructed to paint stripes on the boxes. The work is getting done in the usual mundane way, until one of the workers decides to paint the boxes differently’. Johannes Brahms Hungarian dance no. 5 is the soundtrack that plays along in the 4-min piece.

More details of all those awards at: http://ifilmtv.ir/News/NewsIn/4488//

Here’s the next in the row, with a cutting-edge know-how that elevated Iranian animated works to state-of-the-art technology of ‘Render Farm’. A team of 150 professionals worked on the 90 minute flick, ‘The Elephant King’.

It is up next to be screened in Iran in Q4, 2017-Q1, 2018, and the producers are planning screenings at future international festivals.

Set in Africa, ‘The Elephant King’ narrates the story of an elephant who rules over its group like a king.

The queen bears him a son and everybody expects him to replace his father as heir to the throne, but the clumsy baby elephant disappoints them all.

Here are tags to follow up on that: http://ifilmtv.ir/News/NewsIn/5210/

How much would the title of the next one reveal to you from the story plot? ‘Release from Heaven’ is the one that grabbed 3 awards from Hong Kong, Portugal and South Korea film festivals, all in 2017.

Set in a war torn country, the animation depicts the story of a female writer and teacher, Sareh who has to accompany two of her students on a life- changing journey to find their fathers.

‘Release from Heaven’ is a mixture of fantasy and reality in which the teacher tries to tell stories to her students to perk them up, but she finds out that the heroes of her stories are real.

For more on its achievements visit

filmtv.ir/News/NewsIn/4110/

filmtv.ir/News/NewsIn/4139/

http://ifilmtv.ir/News/NewsIn/4599/

Another animation that has been sweeping awards here and there is the one with a strange storyboard, at least in terms of one of its characters.

It depicts the familiar story of a master and his servant, the story of a writer’s encounter with a gigantic insect: a cockroach.

From international film festivals, ‘The Servant’ already has two awards in its bag , plus a nomination.

For more on this, visit: filmtv.ir/News/NewsIn/5890/

With that list ongoing, let’s switch to a genre that is iconic of Iranian Islamic culture, to make the long story short.

While around 20 million Muslims are taking the March to Karbala to reach its peak on November 9, the Day of Arbaeen (40th day after martyrdom), it’s high time we look back at one of many religious epic animations that chronicle a perspective on the martyrdom of Imam Hossein (AS), the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in Karbala.

‘Nasour’ was an award-winning flick in al-Ghadeer International Bazaar and Festival in Iraq that bagged the ‘Best Animation’ prize in 2016.

The narrative focuses on the Battle of Ashura, in which the Imam (AS) and 72 of his loyal companions, including his family members, were martyred, in an imbalanced battle with the second Umayyad caliph, Yazid I, in 680 AD.

To read more on that, visit http://ifilmtv.ir/News/NewsIn/5424/Nasour-available-in-Iran?En

Meanwhile, a selection of top Iranian animated films were publicly screened at Cinéma vérité theater hall in Tehran on the International Animation Day, October 28, 2017.

Hope you don’t forget your childhood days! and sometimes accompany kids watching their favorite cartoons.

Ifilm English congratulates all kids around the world on the World Animation Day. Have fun!

MF/MF