East Los Angeles College, Cinema Without Borders and Aduren Studio have announced that the seventh edition of ELAC’s annual International Animation Festival will explore the narrative and artistic breadth of Iran’s toon community. Scheduled for March 26, Iranian Animation Day will present a curated selection of short films as well as a panel discussion, filmmaker presentation, artist tribute and more.
The day’s program will begin with a pizza lunch reception at 12:30 p.m., followed by an opening address by Linda Kallan, Chair of the Art Department at ELAC, and Bijan Tehrani, festival director and Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders. The films, organized by Aduren Studio co-founder Amir Mehran, will be screened in Building S1’s Screening Room 112:
- Hajar’s Wedding by Mahin Javaherian (8 min., 2008)
- The Tree by Sare Shafipour (5 min., 2014)
- When I Was a Child by Maryam Kashkoolinia (8 min. 2014)
- The Switchman by Mehdi Khoramian (10 min., 2016)
- The Fox by Sadegh Javadi (10 min., 2017)
- Am I a Wolf? by Amir Houshang Moein (8 min., 2019)
- Malakout by Farnoush Abedi (11 min., 2019)
- Gone by Samaneh Asadi (2 min., 2019)
- The White Whale by Amir Mehran (10 min., 2020)
The afternoon continues with an expert panel featuring animator, historian and USC animation professor Tom Sito, former Animation Magazine editor-in-chief Sarah Baisley and ELAC animation instructor Mike Libonati.
This year’s Spotlight session will delve into the making of The Sixth String, by award-winning Iranian animator Bahram Azimi. A special screening of the black-and-white CGI short will be followed by a behind-the-scenes film and a video address from Azimi on his process in creating the short. Released in 2018, The Sixth String is set 90 years ago, as a musician searching for a new sound finds inspiration in a newfangled automobile.
Attendees will also get to learn about one of the great masters of Iranian animation in Tribute to a Legend: Ali Akbar Sadeghi. The celebrated animation artist, painter and illustrator was one of the founding creatives who formed the Film & Animation department at the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Youth (Kanoon) in 1970s Iran. Throughout the decade, he created seven animated films, including Seven Cities, Flower Storm, Boasting, The Rook, The Sun King and Zal & Simorgh.
In addition to winning numerous awards for his short films — including honors from the Tehran International Festival of Films for Children & Young Adults, Tampere, Columbus, New York, Krakow and Chicago — Sadeghi was widely celebrated for his illustrations for books like Abdolrazagh Pahlavan and Be the Child of Your Time.
ELAC International Animation Festival’s goal is to give an in-depth and entertaining introduction to contemporary international animation. Iranian Animation Day will take place Saturday, March 26 at ELAC — located at 1301 Ave. Cesar Chavez in Monterey Park, California. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masking throughout the event are required.
Reserve your seat for Iranian Animation Day by emailing rsvpanim@gmail.com, more information available here.
