The 58th Annecy International Animation Festival, slated for June 11-16, has selected four Iranian animated films for different sections.
Three short films are to participate in the main competition section while the highly praised feature animated movie “The Last Fiction” is to be screened out of the competition section, ISNA reported.
“Last Fiction”, written and directed by Ashkan Rahgozar, is based on the classic tale of Zahak from “Shahnameh” (Grand Book) by the Persian poet Ferdowsi (935-1020).
The movie’s production process lasted eight years, during which it was introduced as one of the top six ongoing animation projects in the world by Annecy Festival in 2013 and one of the top four animations under production at the Cannes Film Market in 2016.
It is voiced over by prominent Iranian actors, including Parviz Parastouei, Akbar Zanjanpour, Bita Farahi, Hassan Pourshirazi, Ashkan Khatibi, Hamed Behdad, Shaqayeq Farahani, Melika Sharifinia, Farrokh Nemati, Baran Kosari and Majid Mozaffari.
The film follows Zahak’s treacherous rise to the throne in Jamkard in Persia and the young hero Afaridoun’s fight to save the kingdom and its people from darkness.
Short Film Competitors
“Mr. Deer” by Mojtaba Mousavi is to take part in Short Films Competition at the festival. The nine-minute short is the story of an unspecified period when people have animal faces and forgotten humanity.
The festival’s TV Films in Competition will showcase “Roobi and Chickens”, a short film by Babak and Behnoud Nekouei about a fox who seeks to solve its chicken problem with the help of an alien.
“Run Rostam, Run” by Hossein Molayemi, another inspired story from the Persian tales of Shahnameh will be screened in Annecy’s Perspective Short Films in Competition.
It tells the story of the Persian national hero Rostam who must travel to the future to the city of Tehran and recompense for his deeds.
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival was established in 1960 and takes place early June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring every two years, the festival became an annual event in 1998.
