Two Animations Win at American Festival

TEHRAN – (Iranart) n Iranian feature animation and a short film have won prizes at the 14th Accolade Global Film Competition in California.

Among the winners, announced on June 15, were the feature animation ‘Release From Heaven’ directed by Ali Noori Oskouei, which got the award for the best animated feature film, and the 3D short work ‘Light Sight’ by Seyed Moslem Tabatabaei, which won an award of excellence, Mehr News Agency reported.

The jury noted that Oskouei’s film is “a visually stimulating, mixed-technique animation that blurs the lines between imagination, storytelling and reality.”

Using a unique combined 2D, 3D and animation technique, viewers travel through a war-torn country, following a female writer and teacher as she accompanies two of her students on a life changing journey after their school is attacked.

To calm the terrified children she tells them stories about her childhood imaginary hero. Along their journey she finds signs of her imaginary hero in the real world. Oskouei expertly weaves the past, the fictional and the current journey together.

The jury statement about ‘Light Sight’ also reads: “A profoundly simple yet poignant treatise on consciousness, reality, control, anger, surrender and rebirth.  Engaging and moving.”

The short animation is about an imprisoned character in a room who is attracted to a hanging light and tries to catch it. But the room itself becomes an obstacle in his way.

The Accolade Global Film Competition is an avant-garde worldwide contest that strives to give talented directors, producers, actors and creative teams the positive exposure they deserve. It discovers and honors the achievements of filmmakers who produce high quality films.

The Accolade statuette is exceptional in the industry and is a work of art.  Covered with 24k gold it is manufactured by the company that makes the worlds’ most prestigious and celebrated awards, the Oscar, Clio, and Accolade.