The Last Fiction by Ashkan Rahgozar: Iranian Epic Feature
Ashkan Rahgozar is the creative mind behind the Iranian Hoorakhsh Studios, a 2D digital animation studio which aims to depict stories which are part of our beliefs.
The new 2D animated feature, The Last Fiction, is an epic battle between good and evil. The film was included in the 2013 Annecy's Creative Focus projects (for projects in preparation). The story is a free adaptation of an episode from the famous epic Book of Kings (Shahnameh), written around 977 and 1010 CE by the Persian poet Abolghasem Ferdowsi.
Around 60,000 verses comprise Shahnameh, which took Ferdowsi 30 years to write, but the world itself has secured in the Persian world a status analogous to the one the Homeric Iliad enjoys in the West.
The Last Fiction animation feature details how, after defeating the Nether world, the king of Persis, decides to destroy the Devil. He leaves the power to Prince Zahak, but The Evil reappear in Zahak's soul. Kaveh, a blacksmith, leads a revolt, and the question is whether the eternal battle between darkness and light will end.
The totally engaging trailer transforms the archetypal battle between the good and the evil into a very realistic, raw battle. It brings to mind more Kurosawa's Ran than Miyazaki's symbolic use of the supernatural.
Film design mirrors the ancient art of the period of Achaemenids, and animation technique points high-contrast shadows to support its archetypal contrast between light and darkness (with a battle between Kaveh and Zahak's soldiers in Jamkard's streets lasting over 15 minutes). The 2D digital treatment permits a paperless animation style, planning a 4K resolution. Hoorakhsh Studios' objective is to make The Last Fiction a stereoscopic 3D feature (RealD systems).
The French-Iranian musician Christophe Rezaï, familiar with both Iranian and international music, will compose the film soundtrack. Both pieces of symphonic character and ones employing the varieties of Iranian traditional music and instruments are to be included.
The adult-themed adventure is voiced in Farsi, but will be dubbed in French and English. Hoorakhsh Studios is now in the process of recruiting an international co-producer, and distributor(s).
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