Opening this year’s Panorama is a gorgeous, soul-stirring animated gem, Sepideh Farsi’s La Sirène, a chronicle of the siege of the Iranian city of Abadan during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980 seen through the eyes of a boy who seeks to restart an old ship and rescue his family from the horrors. A topical, universal tale of resilience, La Sirène is a technical and artistic marvel, and we couldn’t be happier to have director Sepideh Farsi, screenwriter Javad Djavahery, animation and production designer Zaven Najjar as well as co-producer Richard Lutterbeck weigh in on their creative process. Lovers of animation will find plenty to enjoy in this in-depth chat about the challenges (and rewards) of working in the genre, but the conversation will also make room for larger questions around the nexus between politics and cinema, and how to (re)construct a real-life tragedy drawing from facts and fantasy alike.
