Last 12 months, director Yegane Moghaddam grew to become the primary Iranian director to get nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short for her acclaimed mission, Our Uniform. This 12 months, gifted husband-and-wife artists and administrators Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani are hoping to observe in her footsteps with their highly effective Annecy Cristal-nominated quick, In the Shadow of the Cypress. Their superbly crafted 2D quick, which gained the distinguished Best in Show prize at Toronto’s Spark Animation Festival final week, facilities on a survivor of the Iran-Iraq struggle who’s affected by PTSD. The aged boat captain lives together with his daughter who has to deal with his troubled father and the challenges of every day life in a distant seaside city.
Sohani and Molayemi started work on their quick about six years in the past, after ending their earlier mission Run Rostam Run. “Both of us had personal life experiences that had deeply influenced our lives, and those were the main inspiration for the film,” the filmmakers inform Animation Magazine in an e-mail interview. “In addition, there are many Iran-Iraq war veterans living in Iran who served as significant sources of inspiration for our work. Of course, the broader range of life experiences in Iran during the past 45 years made a big impact on the creation of our film.”
“We’re pleased that we persevered and managed to accomplish the nearly impossible task of creating such a significant production in Iran, despite our low budget, a shortage of skilled artists and a variety of other issues that we have to deal with every day in our country.”
- Directors Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi
Difficult Lives, Troubling Times
To create the internal lives of the characters within the quick, the administrators checked out their very own lives and people of household and associates. “I was inspired by my own relationship with my own father, as well as the fact that Shirin’s father was a war veteran,” says Molayemi. “In addition, there are many war veterans living in Iran who served as reference for the character in our short.”
The poignant slice-of-life snapshot was a labor of affection for the duo. “The production of our film primarily relied on the skills of our artists rather than complicated animation tools and software, as it was a full 2D hand-drawn animated film, created frame by frame,” says Sohani. “We used ordinary and simple software to make our short. It is worth mentioning that while the project involved the participation of several individuals within a limited period of time, in practice, the majority of tasks were handled by three of us: the directors and one of the animators, Azad Maroufi, who worked closely with us from the initial stages of production until the final phase.”
The filmmakers say that producing animation in Iran underneath the awful financial circumstances and the various social crises of the previous decade has taken its toll on the nation’s artists . “It is difficult to fully convey the extent of the challenges we face here. The reality is far more complex and demanding than what words can express,” they clarify. “Creating animation in Iran under the current circumstances is extremely challenging. For over four decades, Iranians have been suffering from economic issues, but the economic and social challenges of the past seven years have led to high levels of pressure, depression and a sense of hopelessness among artists. Additionally, many skilled artists have been forced to emigrate due to these difficult conditions.”
Apart from different challenges and difficulties, Molayemi mentions that he was struck by alopecia universalis, an autoimmune dysfunction, through the making of the quick, which resulted within the lack of all his physique and facial hair inside a month. The dramatic change in his look is obvious in a brief video he made to advertise their quick for the Annecy Festival in June.
Common Threads
Nevertheless, the couple is hopeful that their quick will encourage and transfer audiences around the globe. “We didn’t intend to impose any specific ideas or evoke particular feelings,” they add. “Instead, we wanted to share our deep emotions with the viewers, hoping to establish a common language that connects with the audience on a profound level. Each viewer’s interpretation and takeaway from the film will be subjective and diverse, reflecting their own individual perspectives and emotions.”
Molayemi and Sohani are happy with the truth that they have been capable of convey the troublesome lives of Iranian veterans with PTSD to the world’s consideration. “We’re pleased that we persevered and managed to accomplish the nearly impossible task of creating such a significant production in Iran, despite our low budget, a shortage of skilled artists and a variety of other issues that we have to deal with every day in our country,” they conclude. “We believe our short can create a profound connection with individuals from diverse geographical locations, cultures, languages and backgrounds, spanning from Japan to Chile, all without the use of any dialogue.”
The quick might be screened as a part of the “Best of Annecy & Women in Animation” program on the Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angeles on Sunday, Oct. 20 at 5 p.m.
For extra information about this quick and the filmmakers’ animation studio, go to barfakstudio.com.
Watch the trailer beneath:
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