Paper Flowers Continues Its Festival Run with Awards from Russia and the UK

Ramak Amin Kazemi’s Paper Flowers Reflects the Strength of Iran’s Indie Animation Scene

The Iranian short animation Paper Flowers, directed by Ramak Amin Kazemi, is quietly building a name for itself on the international circuit. With wins in Russia and the UK and new selections in Italy, Germany and Brazil, the film shows how independent animation from Iran is starting to get noticed.

Ramak Amin Kazemi at Kazan Film Festival

Paper Flowers first gained international recognition in 2024, when it won Best Animated Short at the 20th Kazan International Film Festival in Russia. The festival had just revived its animation category that year, making the win an important early step for the film.

In 2025, the animation continued its festival journey, winning Best Costume Design (Experimental Section) at FOMI Film Festival in the UK, and later earning Best Animated Short Film at the International Festival of Pretoria Cinema in South Africa.

The film was also selected for screening at the Tracce Cinematografiche Film Fest in Rome, and featured in the competition sections of T-Short (Germany) and Itaicine (Brazil), among others.

Paper Flowers tells the story of a woman writer who, after a cold response to her second book, leaves her family and isolates herself in an old garden mansion to write again. The idea came from a dream the director once had, which later evolved into the story.

Made using stop-motion puppet animation, the project was produced by Iran’s DEFC (Documentary, Experimental and Animation Film Center). It has not yet had a public screening, but has gained attention in both narrative and experimental categories at festivals.

The creative team behind Paper Flowers is led by Ramak Amin Kazemi, who not only directed and produced the film, but also worked on animation, cinematography, lighting and compositing.

She is joined by:

• Somaye Semsarilar (screenwriter)

• Mazyar Jalaleddin (composer)

• Behrouz Shahamat (sound designer and mixer)

• Mohammad Naseri (editor)

• Siavash Saghati (3D Modeling)

• Reza Ghiyasi (production manager & puppet maker)

• Alireza Parsaeian and Ehsan Kaffash (cinematographers)

• Shohreh Dabbaghian and Omid Heidari (visual effects & compositing)

• Mehran Zaeem, Ghazaleh Davami, and Elham Aminian (animators)

• Maryam Abbaspour (storyboard artist)

• Maryam Babaei and Milad Mobini (voice actors)

• Reza Ghiyasi, Tina Jafaree, Mozghan Chelehdavam, Ramyad Hosseini (Set Construction Assistants )

This small but dedicated team has contributed to making Paper Flowers a strong example of how stop-motion animation can reflect deep emotional and psychological themes, even on a modest budget.Some viewers and critics see Paper Flowers as part of a broader rise in the quality of Iranian animation. With the recent global success of other Iranian shorts including Oscar contenders, it seems like Iranian indie animation might be entering a new phase. These films are becoming more mature, more international and more daring in form and content.

Awards:

1. Kazan International Film Festival – Altyn Minbar (Russia, 2024)

   Best Animated Short – Winner

2. FOMI – Festival of Moving Images (UK, 2025)

   Best Costume Design – Experimental Section – Winner

3. International Festival of Pretoria Cinema (South Africa, 2025)

   Best Animated Short Film – Winner

Official Selections

1. 13th Tehran International Animation Festival (Iran, 2024)

   Official Selection

2. 37th Girona Film Festival (Spain, 2025)

   Official Selection

3. 8th International Women Filmmakers Festival (Izmir, Turkey, 2025)

   Official Selection

4. APedemak – Sudan International Animation Film Festival (2026)

   Official Selection

5. Babylon Animation Cinema Festival (Iraq, 2025)

   Official Selection

6. HE Care Film Festival – Human Environment Care (2025)

   Official Selection

7. Il Itaicine – Festival Internacional de Animação de Itaiópolis (Brazil, 2025)

   Official Selection

8. Nebrodi Cinema (Italy, 2025)

   Official Nomination

9. New England Animation Festival (USA, 2025)

   Official Selection

10. Secondigliano Film Festival (Italy, 2025)

    Official Selection

11. T-Short International Animation Festival (Germany, 2025)

    Storyline Competition – Official Selection

12. Tampa Animation Festival (USA, 2025)

    Official Selection

13. Tracce Cinematografiche Film Fest (Italy, 2025)

    Competition Section – Official Selection

14. Tanzanite International Animation Festival (2025)

    Official Selection

15. Shahr International Film Festival (Iran, 2025)

    Nominated for Best Film

• More screenings may still be announced before the end of the year.

You can also follow Ramak Amin Kazemi on Instagram to see more behind-the-scenes work and updates on her upcoming projects.