‘Am I a Wolf?’ heads to Russian festival

Iranian animation ‘Am I a Wolf?’ is set to contend at the Insomnia International Animation Film Festival (IIAFF) in Russia this month.

Directed by Amir-Houshang Moeen, the animation has been featured at many notable international film festivals such as Annecy in France, Croatia’s Animafest, and Animac in Spain.

Moeen’s animation was also a contender at Japan’s Media Arts Film Festival as well as Bulgaria’s International Animation Film Festival winning the former’s New Face award and Best Short Film at the latter.

On his experience at the Media Arts Film Festival in Japan and Croatia’s Animafest, the director said: “The one thing I noticed during the two festivals was that the audiences were not familiar with Iranian animations and most had not seen many Iranian films.”

The director expressed hope in having Iranian animations reach a wider global audience through the active presence of Iranian animation makers.

‘Am I a Wolf?’ is a recreation of the classic fable of ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’, based on a fantasy book by Afsaneh Shabannejad.

A short synopsis on the animation reads, “the students are performing a theater called 'The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats'. Everybody has a role. They are totally getting carried away by their roles in a way that the borders between reality and theatrical performance in now hardly realized.

Meanwhile, the child acting as the wolf in the story is scripted to be defeated. That makes him feel lonely and annoyed. As he takes his role too seriously, a bit of chaos startles the group. In the end, the presence of other children and his friends take him out of the mood.”

The IIAFF is an independent animation festival set in the Russian countryside, featuring four nights of short animated films from around the world.

The festival will be held July 18-22, 2019.

MB/FM