The 20-minute short animation, co-directed by Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi, won the Oscar for Best Short Animation at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025.
Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi, a young artistic couple living in Tehran, hold Master’s degrees in Animation Directing from the Tehran University of Art.
“In the Shadow of the Cypress” won the Oscar in its category against other nominees like “Handsome Men,” “Magic Candy,” and “Wandering for Wonder.”
Molayemi and Sohani mentioned at the Oscars that they received their visas only the day before the ceremony.
In his acceptance speech, Molayemi enthusiastically said to the audience, “This is a miracle, but if we persist and remain faithful, miracles will happen.”
The film “In the Shadow of the Cypress” had previously been screened at festivals such as Venice, Tribeca, and the Los Angeles Short Film Festival, and was nominated at the Annie Awards and the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
According to its creators, the production and development of the 20-minute animation “In the Shadow of the Cypress” took six and a half years, with the budget funded by the filmmakers themselves.
This dialogue-free film narrates the story of a captain suffering from “mental disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.” The captain, a war victim, lives in isolation with his daughter in a modest house in a remote area along the Persian Gulf. Father and daughter must face the challenges of a difficult life.
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