The Red Fire

The Red Fire is a 2D animated short that tells the poetic journey of a red bird navigating a dark, symbolic world in search of light and truth. With its painterly style, the film was crafted in TVPaint, using hand-drawn pencil lines that were preserved to give the final frames a unique, organic quality.

As the Lead Animator and Supervisor, a key creative challenge was imbuing the bird's movement and the wind with a balance of poetic exaggeration and a natural, breathing rhythm.

The film has been officially selected at festivals such as the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Berlin, Hiroshima International Animation Festival, and Spark Animation Festival in Canada. Its awards include Best Animation Directing at the Tehran Short Film Festival, the Special Jury Award at Turkey's Amity Festival, and Best Animation at the AAB Festival in India.

Directed by Mona Shahi, a segment of the final film is presented here. Please browse through the slides to view different shots from the film.