Deyzangeroo
Discover the warding ritual performed in the Iranian port city of Bushehr.
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“Deyzangeroo” is a ritual performed in the Iranian port city of Bushehr. Influenced by the city’s colonial rule by the British and Portuguese, and the African slaves that followed, it is imbued with the terror and magic of the lunar eclipse. The ritual is believed to ward off evil spirits and take back the moon. It works every time. Directed by Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Ehsan Gharib, this animated short features hand-painted animation, time-lapse photography, trick photography using mirrors, and the haunting music of virtuoso percussionist Habib Meftah Boushehri.
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directorEhsan Gharib
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musicHabib Meftah Boushehri
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voiceHabib Meftah Boushehri
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sound designOlivier Calvert
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foleyLise Wedlock
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foley assistantThomas Garant
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foley recordingGeoffrey Mitchell
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re-recordingSerge Boivin
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online editingDenis Pilon
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titlesMélanie Bouchard
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technical coordinationCandice Desormeaux
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technical directionÉloi Champagne
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technical animation coordinatorRandall Finnerty
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administrationVictoire-Émilie BessetteRosalina Di SarioDominique ForgetStéphanie Lalonde
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marketingGeneviève Bérard
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producerMaral Mohammadian
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executive producerMichael Fukushima
Animated short film about deyzangeroo, a syncretic Iranian ritual with roots in colonialism and the African diaspora. Applicable for research projects, essays or class discussions about colonialism, Iranian history, plurality, and post-colonial art. List the ways sound, images, and animation techniques intertwine and work together in the film. What thoughts and feelings does the film evoke for you? Look up syncretism; what role does syncretism play in deyzangeroo and in the film itself? Discuss the relationship between cultural reappropriation, colonialism, and cultural blending in the deyzangeroo ritual. Can these influences be separated? Using the film as a jumping off point, think about which aspects, rituals, or traditions in your life are born from a melding of different cultures. Share them with your classmates.
