TEHRAN-The Iranian animation “Anita, Lost in the News” written, directed, and produced by Behzad Nalbandi won an award at the 6th Rising of Lusitania AnimaDoc Film Festival, which was held in Lodz, Poland, from September 1 to 22.

The short animation won the audience award for the professional animated documentary at the Polish event, Mehr reported.

A total of 40 animated documentary films from 22 countries participated in this year’s edition of the festival.

Produced in 2023, “Anita, Lost in the News” has so far been screened in several international festivals in Japan, the U.S., the U.K., Turkey, and India, and grabbed many nominations and awards as well.

The 17-minute animation has been created using puppets made from newspaper clippings. It is about a Kurdish-Iranian family of four who died in the sinking of a migrant boat in the English Channel in 2020. 

On October 27, 2020, an inflatable boat left the coast of Dunkirk, France to take 19 undocumented immigrants to England, but capsized after a few minutes and seven migrants drowned; five belonged to a Kurdish-Iranian family (Rasoul 35, Shiva 35, Anita 9, Armin 6, and Artin just 15 months) who had gone on this difficult journey dreaming of a better life.

At the time of the tragedy, there were ten more people on board than the vessel could hold. One of the victims was nine-year-old Anita, from whose perspective we follow the story.

Behzad Nalbandi graduated from Tehran Film School. A graphic designer and theater actor, he has made four short films, four documentaries, and a TV drama. His anima-doc, “The Unseen” premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in 2019 and was a festival hit.

Rising of Lusitania - AnimaDoc Film Festival is an international animation film festival that is focused entirely on this unique genre combining animation and documentary.

“Anita, Lost in the News” will continue its global journey by attending two festivals in the U.S., and Taiwan in the coming days.

Going to Nevada, the U.S., the animation will take part in the 7th Cordillera International Film Festival, due to be held from September 26 to 30.

As a champion of diverse voices, the Cordillera Int'l Film Festival has quickly become one of the “Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” according to MovieMaker Magazine and is ranked in the Top 1% of over 10,000 film festivals worldwide by FilmFreeway. 

Cordillera features five days filled with more than 150 films, celebrity panels, red-carpet premieres, and a Grand Jury made up of iconic industry leaders.

The 24th Kaohsiung Film Festival in Taiwan has also picked the Iranian work for its international short film competition.

From October 12 to 27, Kaohsiung City in southern Taiwan will host the festival, which is dedicated to discover new filmmakers and to enhance cultural exchanges through short films.

SS/SAB