In his animated short ‘At Night,’ Iranian filmmaker Pooya Afzali portrays the ugliness of war against the beauty of peace

In the midst of war, a man watches his beloved one by lighting the three matches he has left. Then, in the pitch darkness, a forest grows from their lovemaking and protects them from the war.

Years ago, Iranian animation filmmaker Pooya Afzali read Paris at Night, a poem by Jacques Prévert. He interpreted it this way: A lover—almost as if in a state of war—watches his beloved with the light of three matches. Afzali added, “I asked myself: what could happen next? How could this poem, with its tension between love and war, become the foundation for a narrative in animation?” That idea gave birth to his animated short At Night, an Official selection at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2025.

“Being selected for Annecy—the most prestigious animation festival in the world—is truly an honour. For me, it feels like a meaningful reward for all the challenges and hardships I’ve faced over more than twenty years of working in animation,” shared Afzali, the writer, director and producer of At Night.

Portraying war and peace

Afzali’s generation in Iran opened its eyes to the world in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war. In his opinion, there is no deep pain in the Iranian society that doesn’t, in some way, trace back to war. “From childhood until now, not a single moment has passed without the shadow of war looming over us. With my film, I wanted to place the ugliness of war in contrast with the beauty of peace. Fantasy, as a powerful tool within the animation medium, has greatly helped me tell this story in a way that is both emotionally resonant and visually expressive.”

The power of making films independently

A major challenge was funding this independent film. “Since I financed the film myself, the biggest challenge was funding. Iran’s economy—affected by sanctions and the continuous devaluation of the national currency—makes it extremely difficult to produce animation independently,” he explained. “Additionally, censorship under the Islamic Republic has led me to the conclusion that the only way to make the kind of film I truly want is to fund it myself. This independence, though challenging, allows me to create work that is honest and uncompromised.”

Animating At Night: The artistry of Hojjat Azampour

In the making of At Night, Afzali’s other challenge was the animation. “I wanted it to be both realistic and dreamlike at the same time,” he mentioned. “Achieving that balance wasn’t easy, but thanks to the artistry of Hojjat Azampour, it became possible.”

Azampour worked as the animator and character developer on At Night. He animated the scenes, shaped the personalities of the characters, and designed their layout and visual flow within each shot.

Elaborating on the animation technique, he said, “We used traditional 2D animation, fully executed with digital tools. While the process was hand-drawn, working digitally allowed us flexibility while retaining the handcrafted feel.”

For him, the project was rewarding and memorable. He shared, “One of the biggest challenges I encountered was animating human hands and facial expressions—elements that are always among the most complex aspects of 2D character animation. The film required a strong sense of realism, which added another layer of difficulty. While some suggested using rotoscoping to ease the process, I deliberately avoided that route in order to maintain the organic and expressive quality of the animation. Instead, I relied on multiple thumbnail passes and exploratory sketches to resolve the emotional and physical demands of each scene while keeping the animation cohesive and alive.”

Afzali fondly remembers the early years of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, when animated films were broadcast on national television. That era sparked his interest in the medium. “It planted the seed that eventually grew into a deeper passion for storytelling through animation and filmmaking,” he recalled.

Apart from making animated films, he also writes poems. “At one point, I was trying to write poems that, when read, would create an animated image in the reader’s mind. Later, I rewrote some of those poems as scripts for animated content. For my next project, I plan to turn one of them into an animated film.”

At Night is being screened during the Annecy Film Festival taking place in France from 8 to 14 June 2025.