Am I a Wolf? Wins New Face Award at Japan Media Arts Festival

TEHRAN. (Iranart) - The Iranian short animated movie Am I a Wolf? has been honored with a New Face Award at the 22nd Japan Media Arts Festival, the organizers have announced.

Directed by Amir-Hushang Moein, the movie is based on poetry by an Iranian children’s book writer Afsaneh Shabannejad that was produced at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults.

The film is about a group of schoolchildren who are performing the familiar story of a wolf attacking herd animals. The central scenes depict a nanny goat in grief for losing the yearlings and an angry wolf facing each other. The story ends when the wolf, struck by lighting, falls into the river. After the show the children receive applause, but the child who played the violent wolf is shown crying by the river. The work, which is composed without any dialog, evokes thoughts among the viewers across age and culture. 

The festival announces winners before its exhibition, which will be organized at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) in Tokyo from June 1 to 16.

Invisible by Japanese director Yamashita Akihiko and The Little Ship by Russian director Anastasia Makhlina also received the New Face Awards in the animation category of the event.

La Chute by Boris Labbé from France won the Grand Prize in this section The Girl Without Hands by Sebastien Laudenbach from France received one of the four Excellence Awards.

Three others went to Dragon Pilot: Hisone & Masotan by Higuchi Shinji, Penguin Highway by Ishida Hiroyasu, and Okko’s Inn by Kosaka Kitaro, all from Japan.

The festival is annually organized in the categories of art, animation, entertainment and manga.

Source: Tehran Times