TEHRAN-Three Iranian animated films are present at the 20th Marrakech International Film Festival in Morocco, which was launched on November 24.

The animations are part of the Cinema for Young Audiences program of the festival, which seeks to educate the spectators of tomorrow. The film screenings are followed by discussions for high school students.

“The Farmer and the Robot,” “The White-Winged,” and “No Substitute”, all directed by Abdollah Alimorad, are the Iranian flicks, which are shown at the event. 

In “The Farmer and the Robot”, a spacecraft is forced to land in a watermelon field after a cooling system breakdown. The craft’s doors open and, as a robot heads towards a water pitcher to slacken his thirst, a farmer and his donkey rush to the safety of the house.

In “The White-Winged”, over the seasons, two white birds fly towards happiness… but when winter arrives, hunger overcomes them. Where can temptation lead? And will friendship be stronger than anything else?

“No Substitute” tells the story of a miller who gets the help of a camel to grind his grain. But one day, the camel gets sick and the miller replaces him with an agricultural machine. This solution seems to be fine, but despite the characters’ apparent reserve, they slowly realize how attached they are to one another.

A production of the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIYCDA), the animations have been made with the stop-motion technique.

The three works are produced with the theme of nature, environment and animals and are about the relationship between technology, development, and pollution of the earth.

Alimorad is an internationally recognized filmmaker who has already won various awards at some of the most prestigious film events. In 2001, his short film ‘Bahador’ grabbed the Grand Prix for best short film at the Junior section of the Cannes Film Festival.

He has also won awards at the international film festivals of Carrouselin in Canada, Heydarabad in India, Berlin in Germany, and Cairo in Egypt.

Abdollah Alimorad, 76, is appreciated both at home and internationally. Among many prizes he has received, he won the Grand Prix for Best Short Film of Cannes Junior at the Festival de Cannes for “Bahador” (2001).

Screening 75 films from 36 countries in various sections, this year’s edition of Marrakech International Film Festival will wrap up December 2.

SS/SAB