Animal (Heyvan)
2017 · 15m · Iran
Directed by Bahman Ark, Bahram Ark
A man desperate to cross a border hunts a ram and skins it, then disguises himself inside the animal's hide to attempt his escape. The transformation blurs the line between man and beast until it is unclear which side of the border — or of humanity — he truly belongs to.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Cannes Cinéfondation 2nd Prize. A man disguises himself inside the skin of a ram to cross a border, no dialogue, pure body horror as border allegory. The Ark brothers are operating in the great Iranian tradition of physical metaphor. This is what shorts should do.
The Ark brothers won the Cinéfondation 2nd prize with a wordless border allegory built on pure physical performance — Iran's New Wave instinct for political parable rendered as body horror.
The Ark brothers strip every line of dialogue and let the body-horror of donning an animal skin carry the entire weight of a border-crossing allegory — formally ruthless in a way that most short films don't dare to be.
Festivals
- Festival de Cannes 2017, 2nd Prize Cinéfondation
- Melbourne International Film Festival 2017
- Chicago International Film Festival 2017
- Tehran International Short Film Festival 2017, Award