Animation Industry Of Iran

Technological capabilities of Iran’s animation studios

The animation industry is known as one of the strategic branches of the creative industries which is growing rapidly in the world. In addition to its high profitability, the industry also has an impact on the cultural aspect.

Since children and teenagers form a wide range of audiences of animation products, the animation industry has a significant impact on culture and lifestyle.

Therefore, the pioneering countries in the production of animation will be somehow powerful in the area of soft war and can change the culture of a region with a favorite animation of their own interest. correspondingly, the leading countries have made significant investments in this area. North American and European countries account for 90% of the investment in the world’s animation industry.

Although 90% of the American and European television shows are produced in Asia, it has been approximately forty years since Western studios began producing animation products first in Japan, then South Korea and Taiwan, and now in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and China due to cheaper labor force. The development of technology in the animation industry is important because the quality of the effects of animation in attracting audiences and the cultural impact on audience`s behavior is directly related to the quality of the technology’s power and the technical knowledge used in the design and production of animated works.

Therefore, despite transfering the studios from pioneering countries to developing countries, the driving force behind the development of strategic technologies in the animation industry is in advanced countries, and rarely is technical knowledge developed at these studios commercially published. Therefore, paying attention to the development of technology and know-how in the animation industry is recognized as a key lever in the development of the animation industry, which will, in addition to increasing the quality of production of animations, greatly reduce the cost of production. Accordingly, due to the importance of technology and the creation of a suitable platform for its development, including the strategic missions of Technology Development councils of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology of Iran, Soft Technology Development council of The Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, in order to develop the technologies of cultural industries, has sought to identify technology in the field of animation.

Accordingly, after studying and identifying the existing technologies and drawing the technology tree, the preparation and compilation of the present book _Technologies of the animation industry of Iran_ was on the agenda. In this book, while presenting the classification and introduction of the technologies of the animation industry, the country’s technological capabilities in this industry are explained in the form of introduction of industry Practitioners. The purpose of the publication of this book is to introduce existing capabilities in the animation industry to private sector investors inside and outside the country.

On the domestic side, the existence of a comprehensive database of animation companies will allow private sector investors to attract the attention of the private sector to the technological capabilities of the active companies and the profitability of the animation industry and to actually facilitate investment. On the foreign side, by presenting the companies’ information and their technological capabilities, appropriate information is provided about the technological capacities of the country to create economic and technological cooperation.

Animation of drawing on a pottery vessel found in Shahr-e Sookhteh, now in the National Museum of Iran.

The history of animation in Iran can be dated back to the Bronze Age. A 5,200 year old earthenware goblet discovered in Burnt City in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, southeastern Iran, depicts a series of drawings of a goat that jumps toward a tree and eats its leaves, however the original evidence is only a storyboard of it, but when combined in a running film, it produces and animation. Similar forms of pottery with sequential pictures can also be found throughout medieval Islamic Persia. Such drawings are early examples of precursors to the history of animation in general.

Modern day

The art of animation as practiced in modern-day Iran started in the 1950s. Iran’s animation owes largely to the animator Noureddin Zarrinkelk, who was instrumental in founding the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) in Tehran in collaboration with the late father of Iranian graphics, Morteza Momayez, and other fellow artists like Farshid Mesghali, Ali Akbar Sadeghi, and Arapik Baghdasarian.

Iranian animation has found international reputation. The Iranian animated film The Hole made by Vahid Nasirian and produced by the Experimental and Documentary Film Center was awarded second prize at the 19th Odense International Film Festival, Denmark in 2004.

Tehran International Animation Festival

Tehran International Animation Festival was established in February 2000. The festival was aimed to bring together Iranian and foreign animators and animation films and providing a showcase for unknown potentials of this type of cinema. 896 films from Iran and 32 other countries applied for participation in the festival, of which 488 titles were selected for screening during the four days of the event.