Kazakh Prize for Kelileh & Demneh

Iranian feature animation film ‘Kelileh & Demneh’ has received the special jury prize in the children’s cinema section of the 13th Eurasia International Film Festival in Astana, Kazakhstan, July 22-28.

Directed by Alireza Tavakoli-Bina and produced by Zahra Hashemi-Bahramani, the animation competed with works from the host nation, France, the Netherlands, China, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Peru, India, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Georgia, Mehr News Agency reported.

The script is written by both Tavakoli and Hashemi. Kelileh and Demneh are two young jackals. The drama starts in the middle of a rainy night when a horrified owl pays a visit to the king of the jungle to report about the excessive hunting he had witnessed.

The original ‘Kalile and Demni’, or Panchatantra (‘Five Principles’) is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in verse and prose, composed in Sanskrit possibly as early as the third century BC.

It was first translated into Middle Persian during the Sassanid era in 570 CE. It became the basis for an Arabic translation in 750 CE by Persian scholar Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa as ‘Kalilah wa Dimnah.’ The Arabic version was translated into several languages, including Greek, Persian and Spanish. So far, it has been translated in more than 50 languages and published in Iran several times by various publishers.

Farabi Cinema Foundation is responsible for the international distribution of the 80-minute animation.

The Eurasia International Film Festival is a major film forum in Central Asia accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF). Its aim is to support the film industry in Kazakhstan and build a platform for closer cooperation between Asia and Europe.

‘Kelileh & Demneh’ will be screened in Iran by Hedayat Film Company in the fall concurrent with the opening of schools.