TEHRAN – The Iranian short animated film “The Lovely Sky” won the Special Jury Award in the foreign short film category at the 4th ANIMATIBA - Curitiba International Animation Festival, which was held in Brazil from May 8 to 14.

The Special Jury Award was presented to “The Lovely Sky” for technical excellence in 2D animation and gripping narrative, Honaronline reported.

Written and directed by Amir Mehran, the short flick has been produced at the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults.

Produced with a two-dimensional technique, the 14-minute animation follows an impatient fighter pilot who bombs cities every day. He returns to his little girl every night after completing his mission. The girl loves to fly, but her father doesn’t fulfill his daughter’s dream because of the bitter memory of his wife’s death. The war is getting closer every day. One day, an incident changes their lives forever.

A production of 2022, “The Lovely Sky” has so far won the best animation prize at the 52nd Roshd International Educational Film Festival in Tehran, Best Music at the 18th Vancouver Island Short Film Festival in Canada, and Best Animation at the Itauna International Film Festival in Brazil.

It has also been screened in the 63rd Zlin Film Festival in the Czech city of Zlin, the 19th World Festival of Animated Film Varna in Bulgaria, the 16th Bueu International Short Film Festival in Spain, and the 39th International Festival of animation cinema, comics, and games in Italy, among others.

ANIMATIBA is a biennial international animation festival that began in 2019. Anima is a word of Latin origin that means “soul” and is present in the word “animation” for giving life to the inanimate. Tiba is of Tupi-Guarani origin and means “a lot”. Hence the name ANIMATIBA, an event about animation, with a lot of soul.

​Curitiba has an old vocation for the art of animation, with great artists and production companies that stand out in the national and international scene, and now the city also has an event for the integration of knowledge, perceptions, appreciation, exchanges, and innovation for this area.

Photo: A screenshot from “The Lovely Sky”

SS/SAB