The Siren

Sepideh Farsi’s powerful animated film THE SIREN, depicts the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war through 14-year-old Omid’s struggle to escape a besieged city.

While 14-year-old Omid is playing soccer with his friends in the city of Abadan in Iran, they witness a missile attack on a nearby oil refinery. The attack by the Iraqi army throws the city into complete chaos, and Omid's life is turned upside down. While his mother and siblings flee, his older brother disappears to join other fighters at the front.

Omid, who stays behind, is determined to find his brother. Along the way, he meets different people who have in common that they live on the fringes of society. It becomes clear to Omid that he must escape his hometown, and together with his new friends, he embarks on an escape attempt in an abandoned ship.

With a detailed narrative style and a touch of adventure, The Siren is a gripping tale of how people come together in a war-torn city.

«Using clean lines, a controlled color palette and a flattened 2D drawing style, Sepidah Farsi’s engrossing Berlin Panorama opener The Siren paradoxically creates a story rich with dimensional detail and riven with the tragedy of war.»
– Variety –

Anne Cruys

Director

Sepideh Farsi (b. 1965) is an Iranian-born director based in Paris. Farsi has made several short films and documentaries, as well as two feature films. She has received several awards for her films, including the Grand Prix at the Festival International de Cinéma de Marseille for her latest documentary 7 Veils (2017). The Siren is her first animated film.

This film is part of