Zal & Simorgh

A long time ago, when Manouchehr was the king of kings of Iran, there was a champion called Sam. He was appointed by Manouchehr to rule Zabulistan. People have known him as an honored, brave, and kind person.

Sam who had been fretting that he had no son and heir, was delighted when a son was born to his wife. His joy soon turned to fear and anger when he saw that his son, named Zal, had white hair. All reason and wisdom left Sam, who thinking his son was either an old man or a demon, ordered the baby be taken to the foothills of the Alborz mountains and left there.
The abandoned Zal was found by the magical Simorgh, an enormous phoenix-like bird with red and gold feathers, who had her nest on the summit of the mountain. Carrying the baby to her nest, the Simorgh took care of Zal for many years, raising him as her own.

Some years later, King Sam was reminded in a haunting dream of how badly he had behaved toward his son. After talking with his advisors, Sam felt great remorse and set out to the Alborz mountains to see if his son might still be alive. Simorgh saw Sam\’s soldiers were looking for Zal. She encouraged Zal to return to his father, Zal at first didn\’t want to leave. Simorgh asked him to go to his father and gave him three of her feathers to burn whenever he needs her help.

This short movie was created as a MFA thesis project at UMass Amherst. It is a puppetry stop-motion film that depicts one of the stories from Shahnameh. Communicating this story with the puppets is directly influenced by Kheime Shab Bazi (Iranian Traditional Marionette Theater) and shadow play found in old Iranian history.

Categories: Animation