January 13th, 2025 
Jackson Murphy 
In the Shadow of the Cypress, from directors Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi, screened and won at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. This LA Shorts, Animayo and Spark Animation winner is also one of the 15 finalists for Best Animated Short Film at the 97th Annual Academy Awards. A father and daughter must work together to figure out how to keep a whale that washed ashore — and their relationship — alive. (This Animation Scoop Interview was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity.)
Q: How did you want to show the complexities of this father-daughter relationship?
A: Well, you are right. As you said, it is very complicated to make a film about very delicate human relationships. Our story centers around the complicated yet loving relationship between a father struggling with PTSD and his daughter. Developing the story is like brewing a fine tea or herbal infusion – it requires enough time to get shaped gradually; otherwise it wouldn’t reach its full potential. With this in mind, we dedicated significant time to story development. We tried to challenge our own narrative and the characters’ motivations from different perspectives by asking challenging questions. We tried to put ourselves in the characters’ and also the audience’s shoes and observe the story from their points of view. This way, we managed to find delicate flaws and weaknesses within the narrative. In addition to that, we needed some references to cope with the details and the complexities of the relationship between the characters.
A: One of the most available references for us was our personal lives. Both of us used our own relationships with our fathers as sources of inspiration. Shirin’s father is a war veteran who lost an eye in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war. Also, he has a fragment left in his skull caused by a shrapnel explosion. This fragment sometimes makes him behave strangely and violently. After he returned from war, it was evident for everybody that he had turned into a totally different person. On the other hand, Hossein has always had a complicated relationship with his father and they never could get along well with each other. We also studied the experiences of other PTSD veterans, gaining a deeper understanding of the psychological and emotional impact of war.
Q: How large did you want to make the whale, and how interesting was it to animate proportionally to everything else?
A: Despite appearing largely passive and motionless throughout the film, the whale plays a very significant role in the narrative. At first, we were hesitant about how much we should refer to the reality regarding its shape and size. The whale had to be large enough to pose a significant challenge for the captain and his daughter in their attempt to return it to the ocean, even with the aid of their motorboat. On the other hand, in order to be convincing and believable for the viewer, it didn’t have to be too large. Finding the right balance was essential. Another reason for our reluctance to increase the whale’s size too much was that very big whales are rarely seen in the Persian Gulf, which is the location where our story happens. Needless to say that there are a variety of whales in terms of size and species. However, in general, the whale in our film is bigger than a typical whale.
Q: Tell me about choosing and working with a color palette that’s heavy on tan-brown-yellow-red.
A: Establishing the film’s color palette was a demanding task; firstly, because it was necessary to adopt brighter and warmer colors, due to the bright sun and the intense heat in the location. This warm and bright color palette, despite our will and contradictory to the atmosphere of the first three quarters of the story, implied hope. In addition to that, considering the 24-hour timeframe of the story, everything in terms of light, colors, shadows and the angle of the sun needed to shift and change dynamically; So it was necessary to be vigilant and careful about choosing the right colors and lights for each scene. Also, another issue which needs to be pointed out is that tan, ochre, and light brown colors are very prone to change dramatically while being projected on older equipment and it was a risk using them. Furthermore, unlike many animated films that use a single color key for a character throughout the film, we chose to use a separate and different color key for the characters and backgrounds in every shot. In each shot, we modified the colors of all backgrounds and characters, considering the surrounding environment, the light and colors of the previous and the following scenes, the time of day, and the overall visual flow of the film. This approach significantly increased the production time but ultimately contributed to the film’s unique visual richness.
Q: What were your goals for how you wanted the music to accompany some of the drama that unfolds?
A: Actually, we intended to keep everything including the film’s score simple and minimal in this film so as to keep the focus of the audience just on the narrative. What needs to be mentioned here is that we didn’t want the music to overwhelm the audience. Even some filmmakers believe that the best music is the one which is not heard consciously. In addition, we deliberately avoided using music to manipulate emotions or fill narrative gaps. It shouldn’t be used as a means of making up for the flaws and weak points of drama. Everything should happen in the film, and the music should serve as an accompaniment, not a substitute for effective storytelling. Our composer Afshin Azizi had already written many scores for live-action movies and TV series, but not for an animated film. While “In the Shadow of the Cypress” was his first animated film, his talent and sensitivity were evident. We have received very good compliments about the film’s music.
Q: Which scene challenged you the most as filmmakers?
A: There were many scenes that challenged us during the making of “In the Shadow of the Cypress”. Therefore, choosing just one of them as the most challenging one is a bit difficult. Before answering your question about the most challenging scene, we should note that one of the most formidable obstacles we faced was the scarcity of skilled 2D animators. Nowadays, there are few skilled 2D animators left even in the world and this situation is even worse in Iran. Considering the current economic climate in our country, many talented animators have emigrated, leaving a critical shortage of skilled professionals. We had only a few part-time animators, which was insufficient for the volume of 2D animation required. This issue significantly slowed down the production process.
Other than seagull scenes, which we didn’t have anyone to animate, we can mention shot 218. This 24-second scene depicts the father’s violent ejection by a bomb blast. One of our animators began but failed to complete Scene 218. Due to severe budget limitations and a shortage of animators, everyone was behind schedule. To be honest, we were desperate and couldn’t find anyone to animate this shot. Initially, we tried to accomplish the animation ourselves, but we were too hectic. So we decided to take a creative risk and trust Mehdi Torabi, a talented member of our coloring team. Mehdi used the existing incomplete rough animation as a foundation and employed his unique and distinctive illustration style to finish the scene. Since we wanted to create a different atmosphere in this shot, we decided to keep the spontaneous and unexpected elements that naturally emerged in Mehdi’s work. Despite having no prior animating experience, Mehdi’s work completely exceeded our expectations.
Q: How has this year been for you, with the short screening as part of Tribeca and now on the Oscar shortlist?
A: 2024 has been very difficult and hectic and at the same time very promising for us. We are immensely grateful for the recognition we have received, including four Oscar-Qualifying awards from Tribeca, Animayo, Spark Animation, and LA Shorts, as well as a nomination for the Annie Awards. We have also been deeply honored by the positive feedback from renowned figures in the animation world, including John Musker, Pete Doctor, Tomm Moore, and Joanna Quinn. On the other hand, while struggling with the sanctions and constant devaluation of our currency, we had to deal with a lot of problems for providing the money needed for funding our Oscar campaign.
Q: What would an Oscar nomination for “In the Shadow of the Cypress” mean to you?
A: An Oscar nomination would be an absolute dream come true. To be honest, after more than six years of dedicated work and countless challenges to bring this film to the big screen, we are really exhausted now. You know, we need the necessary fuel to continue this bumpy road. An Oscar nomination can help us pursue our dreams with a higher morale and more motivation. Also, it can help us find financial support for making our first feature-length animated movie. Moreover, a nomination for “In the Shadow of the Cypress” would be the second nomination for an Iranian animated film and could be a source of hope and inspiration for our tired and oppressed nation which is now living under the dark clouds of dictatorship. That’s why getting nominated is so important to us.
- INTERVIEW: Illuminating “In The Shadow Of The Cypress” - January 13, 2025
- INTERVIEW: Exploring “Maybe Elephants” - January 10, 2025
- INTERVIEW: A Taste Of “Magic Candies” - January 9, 2025
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