Fajr Film Festival, a School for ‘Royashahr’

🎬 Fajr movie, a school for "Royashahr"
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The animated movie "Roya Shahr" directed by Mohsen Enayati and produced by Mustafa Hassanabadi was publicly screened in the art and experience group yesterday. This work, which was previously presented at the 32nd Fajr Film Festival, was met with frank criticism from domestic critics, and now Mehdi Jafari Jozani, the CEO of Mahva Entertainment Industries, refers to it as a "lesson" that helped the production team to understand and apply global cinema standards.

🏞️ The story and message of the work
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"Roya Shahr" is the story of a group of children and teenagers in an imaginary city who stand against oppression and inequality. The main theme of the work is based on civil resistance, collective empathy and building a bright future with mutual cooperation. The visual language of works such as European and Japanese animations has inspired the formulation of this story, but its atmosphere and symbolism are completely derived from the traditional culture and architecture of Kashan so that the Iranian audience will feel closer.

🏭 Professional behind the scenes
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Mahva Entertainment Industries Factory was responsible for the major part of the rendering and visual effects of Roya Shahr. More than 200 people from Kashani local forces cooperated in the stages of pre-production, production and post-production. Using several powerful servers, Mahva's cloud rendering system enabled fast processing of frames, and the in-house sound team created a new and attractive soundtrack, which is a combination of Iranian instruments and electronics.

📝 Fajr festival feedback and open reviews
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Jafari Jozani says:

"The critics of Fajr Film Festival have repeatedly shown how important international standards are to them with their clear and precise criticisms. "Each comment clarified a point of our work and helped us to improve our projects in the next stages."

Initial feedback showed that teenagers were interested in the realistic characterization and moral conflicts of the work, and parents also welcomed the educational capacity of Roya Shahr to strengthen their children's social skills.

🤝 Extensive cooperation with institutions
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As one of the main axes of animation production in Iran, Mahva has cooperated with Farabi Cinema Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and several art universities. Joint training workshops were held for the students of Kashan and the result of this interaction was to identify new talents in the city and improve the technical skills of the team. Jafari Jozani emphasizes:

Synergy with cultural and educational organizations is the key to the stability and growth of the country's animation industry.

🔮 Future vision
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Due to the reception of the audience and the relative success of the Fajr Festival, the next project of the team is in the stage of writing the script of "Benyamin 2", which is supposed to be produced with a stronger budget and infrastructure. The director of Mahva hopes that with the increase of investment in research and technology, a new era of Iranian animation will begin, which, in addition to the domestic market, will gain a significant share in festivals and the global box office.