The Siren

1980 in the oil metropolis of Abadan, the largest port city in Iran. Omid, 14, is playing football with his friends when a missile hits a nearby refinery. Within a very short time, this attack by the Iraqi army plunges the city into chaos. At home, Omid catches a glimpse of his older brother getting into a transporter that is taking fighters to the front. His mother has already packed a few things and is ready to flee with the family, but Omid refuses. He and his grandfather stay behind. Too young to take up arms himself, he becomes a provider for a group of others remaining there who are now united in need. He is determined not to give up the search for his brother – and to find an escape route out of the encircled city. With a meticulous eye for detail in her storytelling and a minimalistic style of animation, director Sepideh Farsi depicts the outbreak of the bloody Iran-Iraq war through one boy’s struggle for survival in a besieged city. Along the way, her protagonist encounters various people who find themselves at a turning point in their lives due to the war and who have to plan their future anew. (Berlinale)