Iran short ‘Third Script’ to vie in Portugal film festival

Iranian filmmaker Javad Khajavi’s flick ‘Third Script’ on calligraphy has been accepted to compete in the MONSTRA film festival in Portugal.

Iranian animation ‘Third Script’ will compete at the 18th edition of the MONSTRA Lisbon Animated Film Festival in the Portuguese capital city next month.

According to the artist’s statement, the short film originated from his personal desire and experience as an animator who is familiar with Persian calligraphy.

“Born and grown up in Iran, my aesthetic taste has developed in a culture in which calligraphy is considered a prominent form of artistic expression,” Khajavi noted, adding that, “I was exposed to various forms of Persian calligraphy and calligraphic art early on in my life.”

The film gets its name from one of the sayings of Persian poet Shams-i Tabrizi, who was a mystic and spiritual instructor of the prominent poet of the 13th century, Rumi.

“The ‘Third Script’ is an experimental animation that celebrates such a Proto-animated quality of the art of Persian calligraphy,” Khajavi said.

His film will join another Iranian short animated piece, ‘Maned & Macho’ to compete at the festival in Portugal.

According to the festival’s website, MONSTRA Animation Festival is a venue for young and well-known animators all over the world with the motto of “animation will neither start nor end on the screen”.

Every year, MONSTRA witnesses organizing exhibitions of world’s leading animation works, screening the leading foreign works and, finally, holding expert-level sessions on the new and avant-garde areas of animation cinema.

The 18th edition of the MONSTRA Animation Festival is slated to be held from March 8-18 in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.

AI/MMF