‘The Mysterious City’, an animation which received acclaim at the Isfahan International Children’s Film Festival portrays Shiraz, its history, architecture, culture and geography as well as people’s clothing, behavior and dialect during different historical periods.
The animation has been produced as a 26-episode series along with one feature film in the 3D group at Saba Animation Center in collaboration with Zagros Film Production Company, MNA reported.
“Shiraz has a rich historical and cultural background, some great people have lived in Shiraz; therefore setting Shiraz as the locale for the animation could add to its attractions” said Mazyar Mohammadinejad, manager of the 3D group. But ‘The Mysterious City’ is not just an animation for introducing Shiraz. Using the city’s rich historical and cultural background adds to the spice; but it is the story itself that is attractive.”
The story is a sort of good versus evil battle between the two main players, one a cunning character who misuses science for financial gain against the hero, a science loving boy called Sepehr. “Apart from the story-telling and illustrative features, we have focused on the hero’s brave, smart and adventurous character,” he said.
Mohammadinejad, who has also directed the animation, which won the jury’s golden diploma at the Isfahan festival, said its idea germinated in a training workshop.
The director says they had to study documents on old Shiraz to gain insight about the customs, architecture, geography as well as manners and dialect of the people. The pre-production stage started in 2007 and it took a year to design the places and characters.
