Jan 23, 2020

39 Iranian Animators Team Up to Create Dazzling Conceptual Short “Knock Knock” (Exclusive Premiere)

At a time of geopolitical crisis, a new Iranian animation project is a model for collaboration and international outreach. [39 Iranians, Americans, and Russians have joined forces to create Knock Knock, an anthology of three-second animation clips, which Cartoon Brew is premiering exclusively and can be viewed below:

The project is the work of The project is the brainchild of animator and designer Kasra Yazdani, who has seven years of experience in the industry. After gaining experience at various studios, Yazdani went independent two years ago to focus on her own work. The difficulty of focusing on a solo project is what made the prospect of anijam so appealing, he tells Cartoon Brew below.

The brief was simple: each animator had three seconds to animate something entering a square frame, hitting the surface, and exiting through the bottom. Artists took this format and ran with it in all directions: Knock Knock contains works animated in a variety of media, including pop art pastiche, political satire, abstract exercises, and homages to superheroes.

Iran's animation industry made headlines last year when it submitted its first feature film to the Academy Awards: Last Fiction. The film was an epic adventure story about mythology and a testament to Iran's growing production capabilities. Knock Knock” is something else entirely: it showcases the creative prowess of local (and international) animators. In the following interview, Yazdani discusses how the project came about and assesses the Iranian animation scene.

When did you come up with the idea for this project? However, I could not find any photos or videos of the event.

This happened when I was trying to make a short animation by myself. The idea was to create a small exhibition of two to three minutes with a number of really short works. The idea of how a single theme could influence the thinking of several artists was very appealing to me.

How did you choose the animators who would participate? I wanted to make the work more flexible for the audience. The project involved a wide variety of animators involved in different aspects of the industry, including experimental work, advertising, feature films, etc.

There are not enough specialized animation studios in Iran to cover all animators. Therefore, most of the well-known animators are freelance. Animation started in Iran more than 40 years ago, long before the Islamic Revolution. There are some veterans who are still active, but most of the best animators who are leading from a more modern perspective are of the younger generation. For example, a group called Animation Experiment is currently working in Iran to introduce non-mainstream types of animation to audiences.

The frame size had to be 1080 x 1080 pixels. I suggested that using a square aspect ratio was a great tool to allow the audience to tell the story more honestly without being bogged down by unnecessary details.

How many Iranian animators did you have and where did the non-Iranian animators come from? Three guest artists were originally scheduled to participate in the project, but one of them withdrew for personal reasons. Due to time constraints, we had to replace him with an Iranian animator. We have two foreign artists from the U.S. and Russia, five Iranian artists living abroad, and 34 Iranian animators living in Iran.

What are the greatest strengths of the Iranian animation industry today and what are the biggest challenges it faces? Currently, the number of animations with their own voice is increasing day by day.

Regarding challenges: [While huge budgets are squandered on disgraceful productions by major film studios supported by the government and the country's official media, individual artists who really need financial support to work on their films with a decent heart receive no real assistance, neither from the government nor from the private sector. So, the artists here are not able to receive any financial support for their art projects. So artists here need to get day jobs to fund their art projects. The show business situation in Iran is so different from what people perceive as a dynamic industry.

Iranian animation is gaining recognition abroad. I worked for a year and a half at the studio that produced “Last Fiction. Many hard-working and talented people were involved in the production of this film, and their efforts should be acknowledged. However, I don't think we have yet seen an animated feature film of respectable quality. If you look for the work of Iranian independent filmmakers, though, you will surely find something worth seeing. [They don't have a big platform and it's hard for their voices to be heard.

Here is a list of the participating artists in Knock Knock and a link to their Instagram profiles:

The interviews were conducted via email and have been lightly edited for clarity.