TEHRAN – Acclaimed Iranian short movie “The Fourth Wall” scored another success on Sunday by obtaining the grand prize of the animation category at the 25th Japan Media Arts Festival.

Directed by Mahbubeh Kalai, the movie shows a stuttering boy who transforms an Iranian kitchen into a fantastic cosmos. The father’s body becomes a refrigerator, the mother’s belly a washing machine whose spin cycle gives birth to a screaming baby. Even birds on tiles and detergents have a surprising life of their own. 

This exuberant animation, dotted with real-life elements – fried eggs, broken plates, pieces of cheese – develops a subtle wit, ironizing ingrained family patterns.

The movie produced at the Documentary, Experimental and Animation Film Center has previously received the Mephisto 97.6 Award for the best animated film at DOK Leipzig, Germany’s major international festival for documentary and animated films.

The 31st edition of Animafest Zagreb, a Croatian international festival for animated films, honored the film with the Zlatko Grgic Award. 

The Japan Media Arts Festival is a comprehensive festival of Media Arts (Media Geijutsu in Japanese) that honors outstanding works from a diverse range of media – from animation and comics to media art and games.

In the animation category, four animated films and series, including “Dozens of Norths” by Koji Yamamura and “Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko” by Sanma Akashiya and Ayumu Watanabe from Japan won Excellence Awards.

In addition, “Pui Pui Molcar”, an animated TV series directed by Tomoki Misato from Japan received the Social Impact Award.

The grand prize in the art category went to “Sun and Moon Room”, an interactive work of art by a team of Japanese artists.

“Naoki Urasawa Presents Manben Neo - Yoshikazu Yasuhiko”, a Japanese TV program by Katsumi Ueda, Mitsuru Kuramoto, Aimi Uchida, Tsutomu Tsukada and Megumi Maruyama won the grand prize in the entertainment section.

The grand prize in the Manga Division was awarded to “Golden Raspberry” by Japanese artist Aki Mochida.

“Path of Noise”, an application program by Paul Lacroix from France in the geo-cosmos category, and “Dear Virus”, a video work by Junjie Wang from China in the Dome Theater Category, won Platform Awards.

Photo: “The Fourth Wall” directed by Mahbubeh Kalai.

MMS/YAW