TEHRAN – Ten prizes and two distinctions were awarded Friday at the Special Prizes Ceremony of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, France, with an animated movie from Iran among the winners.

The Iranian animation “At Night” written, directed, and produced by Pooya Afzali received the France TV Award for a Short Film at the event, ISNA reported.

In the five-minute flick, a 2025 production, a man watches his beloved one by lighting the three matches he has left amid war. Then, in the pitch darkness, a forest grows and protects them from the war.

Years ago, Afzali read “Paris at Night,” a poem by Jacques Prévert. He interpreted it this way: “A lover, almost as if in a state of war, watches his beloved with the light of three matches. I asked myself, what could happen next? How could this poem, with its tension between love and war, become the foundation for a narrative in animation?” That idea gave birth to his animated short “At Night”.

Afzali’s generation in Iran opened its eyes to the world in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war. In his opinion, there is no deep pain in the Iranian society that doesn’t, in some way, trace back to war. “From childhood until now, not a single moment has passed without the shadow of war looming over us. With my film, I wanted to place the ugliness of war in contrast with the beauty of peace. Fantasy, as a powerful tool within the animation medium, has greatly helped me tell this story in a way that is both emotionally resonant and visually expressive.”

In the making of At Night, Afzali’s other challenge was the animation. “I wanted it to be both realistic and dreamlike at the same time,” he mentioned. “Achieving that balance wasn’t easy, but thanks to the artistry of Hojjat Azampour, it became possible.”

Azampour worked as the animator and character developer on “At Night”. He animated the scenes, shaped the personalities of the characters, and designed their layout and visual flow within each shot.

Elaborating on the animation technique, he said, “We used traditional 2D animation, fully executed with digital tools. While the process was hand-drawn, working digitally allowed us flexibility while retaining the handcrafted feel.”

For him, the project was rewarding and memorable. He shared, “One of the biggest challenges I encountered was animating human hands and facial expressions—elements that are always among the most complex aspects of 2D character animation. 

Apart from making animated films, he also writes poems. “At one point, I was trying to write poems that, when read, would create an animated image in the reader’s mind. Later, I rewrote some of those poems as scripts for animated content. For my next project, I plan to turn one of them into an animated film.”

SS/SAB