Spotlight
The Last Fiction, an action-adventure epic from Iran
The Last Fiction,the most ambitious and technically advanced animation feature ever produced in Iran, premiered at the Annecy animation festival in France.
The hybrid 2d/3d film is based on the classic thousand-year-old Persian poem The Shahnameh (The Book of Kings)by Ferdousi, which is considered to be the Iran’s national epic and liberally mixes myth and factual history to tell the creation story of the pre-Islamic Persian empire.
The Last Fiction presents the story of upstart ruler Zahak’s treacherous rise to the throne in ancient Persia, and naive Afaridoun, the young hero who saves the kingdom and people from the darkness. Written and directed by Ashkan Rahgozar, the founder of the Hoorakhsh studios in Tehran, Iran, The Last Fiction is a game changer for the Iranian feature animation industry. It is a showcase of the pool of creative talent in Iran, among the region’s strongest and most developed.
The Last Fiction plans a theatrical release in Iranian cinemas this fall, followed by international rollout. An English-subtitled version of the film is currently being prepared for international distribution.