Animated short film Oscar winners dedicate award to ‘fellow Iranians who are still suffering’

In the Shadow of the Cypress is the fourth film form Iran to win an Academy Award

Iranian animators Hossein Molayemi and film Shirin Sohani pose with their Oscar statuettes after winning in the Best Animated Short Film category for their film In the Shadow of the Cypress. AFP

In the Shadow of the Cypress, a short film by Iranian directors Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, has won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

The 20-minute animated short follows a retired sea captain who copes with post traumatic stress disorder while caring for his daughter. Other nominees in the category were Beautiful Men, Magic Candies, Wander to Wonder and Yuck!.

During their acceptance speech, the filmmakers started by saying that they had arrived in Los Angeles three hours before the ceremony due to a visa issue. “Believe me or not, three hours ago, our plane landed in LA,” said Molayemi.

Both started by apologising for their “bad English,” saying “we are not native English speakers, sorry”. They went on to say: “We dedicate our film and this special award to all those who are still fighting in their inner and outer battles, heroically and nobody knows about that. Especially to our fellow Iranians, who are still suffering.”

Sohani said that they didn’t know whether they would make it or not until the day before the ceremony when they were granted a last-minute visa. They were unable to participate in other awards campaigns due to difficulties obtaining a visa and the Iranian government's withdrawal of financial support for the film, limiting international travel.

In the speech, Molayemi said: “It’s a miracle, and speaking in front of this expectant audience is very hard for us. Yes, if we preserve and remain faithful, miracles will happen.”

The pair told Variety magazine in a previous interview that the short film took them six years to finish because it was entirely self-funded through development and production. They also said that they had been under sanctions for years, but things had gotten worse and “more complicated since President Trump’s time in office”.

Molayemi and Sohani had initially been funded by the Iranian government to promote their film but said that funding stopped when they two spoke in another interview about the financial challenges of making the film.

“We didn’t say anything political, but we talked about the financial challenges we faced because of sanctions and the devaluation of our currency and about how the unreliable internet complicated things and how many useful online platforms are blocked here in Iran,” Sohani said.

In the Shadow of the Cypress is the fourth film from Iran to win an Academy Award. Filmmaker Asghar Farhadi won twice in 2012 and 2017 for A Separation and The Salesman. Filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi won in the Best Documentary (Short Subject) category in 2019 for her film Period. End of Sentence.