Programme 2006

Modern society has seen the media become one of the key factors of child development. That is why the nature of a child's first interaction with the media is all the more important. Just as a child learns to read and write, he or she must learn to receive and evaluate media input. As a rule, a child's first steps towards this are made in the presence of adults who encourage and direct the child's attitude to the media. Once the child has gained a basic knowledge of the characteristics of a medium, he or she will gradually expand and reshape this knowledge, and develop into a critical viewer who pays attention when watching.

When choosing films for children, it is important to select those intended for their age and understandable to them as this is the only way for them to be attracted and extract the most out of them. Children usually enter the world of the media through animation films. Good animation films take it as their task to encourage children's mental, emotional, social and speech development and learning. In such films, the most important criteria are quality illustration and animation on the one hand and an interesting, attractive, amusing and educational story on the other hand. After watching an animation film, especially one different from the films children are used to, it is of greatest importance that there are adults by their side who talk to them about what they have seen. A child's storytelling will tell us many things about the way he or she perceives the world. A film of this sort is also a wonderful opportunity to talk about the child's distress, his or her needs, wishes and longings, but also about topics which are discussed only rarely or with difficulty although they represent an important part of our daily lives.

Martina Peštaj

The Iranian films presented at Animateka are very different from the animation films children are used to. They have a delicate poetics, stories told without words but nevertheless very clearly and thoughtfully, which is exactly why children used to a different pace will follow them easily and with interest and will finally acknowledge the message of individual stories, getting closer to understanding and accepting the art of filmmaking as a medium with a great aesthetic and experiential value.

Toulanitarin safar-e donya
Mohammad Moghadam (Mohammad Reza Karimi Saremi)
Iran, 2000, Beta SP, 10'15''

A drop of morning dew wakes up the small caterpillar, which stretches and sets off. As it crawls, it passes many things of different colours and shapes, and it is only when we look at the caterpillar and its route from above that we realise it has passed hedgehogs and a colourful jug, and has gone over a ball and through samples of a large piece of cloth. At the end of its long way it turns into a chrysalis. When morning comes, it becomes a beautiful butterfly and flies over the garden where it crawled as a small caterpillar.

Sib
Mozaffar Sheydaï in Ramin Sheydaï (Kanoon)
Iran, 2001, Beta SP, 14'

Over hills and valleys, in a faraway land grows an apple-tree which bears many beautiful red apples. The peasant carefully picks the apples, but one slips away and falls into the grass. The word about the red apple is spread among animals, each has a bite and the apple is gone. All that is left is a tiny stone, which sprouts in the soil and slowly grows into a big apple-tree bearing beautiful red apples.

Bazgasht
Vajiollah Fard-e Moghadam (Kanoon)
Iran, 1987, Beta SP, 16'

It is wintertime and a small bird is shivering with cold outside. Flying up and down from one roof to another and into apartments, he observes birds pecking at food, resting and singing free of all care. This bird would like a warm home too! He willingly gets caught and at first he really enjoys being in his cage. He is provided with food, a swing and a cap on top of that. But then he notices birds flying in the sky and becomes sadder and sadder every day. His masters throw it out of the house and as he wakes up into the spring, he spreads his wings and flies into the clouds.