Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2020 – Song Sparrow
A group of refugees tries to reach themselves to a safe country in search of a better life. They pay a smuggler to convey them across the boarders in a fridge truck. However...
Interview with Director/Producer Farzaneh Omidvarnia
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I travel very often. I make portrait puppets inspired by the people I meet in my everyday life, and I usually carry them with me through the trip. They are like immigrants and I am the one who carries them over the borders. As the immigration crises raised, I felt the urge to make a film about immigrants with my puppets to tell their stories. Almost all the people around the world regardless of their age or gender have some kind of emotional connection to the dolls from their childhood, and it is actually sad to see a doll is in danger or dead. Therefore, I thought using puppets could accentuate the catastrophe when talking about refugees who are facing death.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Every day we see a number of horrifying news about people who seek safe refuge and cannot make it to the destination. Sometimes the high quantity of such terrible news cannot represent the nature of those tragedies. I believe people need to understand the ordeal that these unfortunate people suffer so they can empathize with them. I hope Song Sparrow which visualizes such tragedies from the personal outlooks help us feel some moments of the life those people in today’s world.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I am an immigrant myself. In 2009, moved from Iran to Denmark (where I am now based). But I was fortunate as I was not forced to relocate but took the decision to continue my education in Copenhagen. I could easily board an airplane and a few hours later I was in Denmark. This is the way that many fortunate people in the world travel every day. Since then, I have met many people who risked their lives by traveling by boat or other ways to reach a safe country. Many of them who have lost their loved ones in this journey. Even though I have not experienced what they have been through, the difference between the ways we arrived the same destination has always occupied my mind. A couple of years ago a group of refugees who were trying to flee from their countries in search of better life suffocated in a fridge truck in Austria. I made my film based on this real event. Unfortunately, history recurred, and this tragedy happened again in 2019 in Ireland…
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Since my puppets are not initially designed for animation, the script had to be written to consider their limitations on certain movements. In order to have the puppets/actors in a believable manner, I applied animatronics to have features such as blinking eyes and eyeballs rotation. The heights of the puppets were around 70 cm so, in order to have the proportions correct, I had to make a huge set. For examples, we had to make a forest scene. It was at the same time challenging and fun to think about making a forest with trees over 1/5 meter only with fabric. I made 400 trees in different sizes for different scenes, 700 sunflowers and 150 houses, all out of fabric. It is a live-action animation and the filming process took 80 days. It was a long and very challenging process; however, I learned a lot and I am so happy with the outcome.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I have received many positive and heart-warming feedbacks from individuals and professionals. It is very gratifying to see that the intended content and message could be understood and felt. I got many messages that they cried as the film ended. It shows that Song Sparrow could touch people’s heart and has been successful in my opinion. However, like any other process, there have been both ups and downs. Because Song Sparrow is a live-action film and is not made based on the known animation techniques such as stop-motion, many animation experts do not consider it in the category of “animation”. On the other hand, non-animation experts put the movie in the category of animation and not in general competition of short films. It makes it sometimes confusing when submitting to a festival.
I consider the way I made Song Sparrow a developing method that I am actually trying to exploit and advance it. In fact, it might be more challenging than for example stop-motion for some scenes, but I believe it eventually conveys the message and senses clearly. So all my hope is that this technique gets established more strongly through my next movies.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
One interesting thing about the received feedback was about the level of emotions and sympathy of the audience with the puppets. The audience knew from the beginning that the puppets are not alive but they could connect and empathize with the puppets and feel their sufferings.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
First, I believe that the message of the film should be heard and felt. It is an important issue in today’s world that people from different countries and continents connect and understand each other. It is important that we all understand that regardless of the distance or race we all share the same feeling and suffering and individuals should not be neglected.
Moreover, the more people get in to know my film and the more feedback I receive the further I can go with my creativity. It definitely encourages me to do more. I have many stories to tell, and I hope the additional visibility helps me to create those into films.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
In fact, I need all them!
I would love to have a multimedia exhibition of the Song Sparrow. I have puppets and the sets of the film including the horrifying carcasses and I am so eager to hang them again! It would be wonderful to find logistics and sponsor for this exhibition.
Moreover, I am preparing my next project which is a feature film using the same technique. I already have the script and sketches of the puppets. I would love to find a producer or sponsor for this project, and I believe that it is going to be an absolutely unique and fabulous film!
Finally, a distributor in North America is warmly welcomed on board!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope this film conveys its meaning to everyone who watches it. In addition, I hope the technique that I used in making Song Sparrow could be supposed positively as an “animation” technique finally.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What if peace in your home country turns to warfare tomorrow? What would you do then to keep your family safe? What will you expect from the other people in the world who are living safe?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am preparing for my first feature film.
In parallel, I am developing an installation about “women in a Qajar dynasty” in Iran using the puppets.
Interview: January 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Song Sparrow
A group of refugees tries to reach themselves to a safe country in search of a better life. They pay a smuggler to convey them across the boarders in a fridge truck. However...
Length: 11:43
Director: Farzaneh Omidvarnia
Producer: Farzaneh Omidvarnia
Writer: Farzaneh Omidvarnia, Mehdi Rostampour
About the writer, director and producer:
FARZANEH OMIDVARNIA was born in Iran and graduated from the University of Tehran, Faculty of Fine Arts. She received a PhD in Design in 2015 from Technical University of Denmark. Following her graduation, she began to focus on the creation of fabric sculptures and writing short stories. Her artworks soon appeared in several art exhibitions in Europe and Iran, and she published her first collection of short stories in 2016. In 2017, she directed and produced her first animated film To Be (6 minutes, drama). The movie was acclaimed internationally and won prizes in different festivals. Her second film Song Sparrow has been completed in June 2019. She is now based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Looking for: distributors, journalists, producers, film festival directors, buyers, sales agents
Facebook: Farzaneh Omidvarnia
Twitter: @F_Omidvarnia
Instagram: @fomidvarnia
Website: omidvarnia.com
Other: IMDb
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Santa Barbara International Film Festival
15- 25 January 2020