Children > DVDs > ANIMATION LOOKS TO FORGE UNIVERSAL TIES BETWEEN CULTURES BY SARA SEPIDZADEH
New Concept Mixed Nutz
|
| |
|
New York– Iran is in the headlines all too often these days. With war raging in the Middle East and the threat of terrorism in the West, one animation company is fighting the negative stereotypes created by the media. With “Babak & Friends – A First Norooz”, (Norooz, the Persian New Year), a small animation company has managed to shed light on the beauty of Persian culture and garner attention from the world through international museums, major film festivals, and even news stations like CNN and ABC.In a time of political turmoil and misunderstanding, Norooz Productions believes that by teaching culture through entertainment, the world can become a better place. In their first film “Babak & Friends – A First Norooz”, a young Iranian-American boy named Babak learns to connect with his heritage and background. Babak has been raised with little knowledge of Iranian customs. Feeling alienated from his classmates, Babak gets even lonelier when his cousins, Saman and Sousanne, visit from Iran. Through a magical trip to Persepolis, the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, Babak learns about the ancient traditions of Iran and proudly reconnects to a deep and grand civilization. Featuring the voice talents of Oscar Nominee Shoreh Aghdashloo (“House of Sand & Fog”), Catherine Bell (CBS Show “JAG”), and legendary Iranian actor, Parviz Sayyad, the film is a high quality production with a universal message.Through international sc
|
reenings and major news coverage, the founders of Norooz received a tremendous amount of positive feedback from non-Iranian audiences. They realized that there was a gap in the entertainment industry for this type of relevant and timely portrayal of the immigrant experience. So they decided to develop a multi-cultural series to include three new characters to enable their goal.
The 22-minute animated series is called Mixed Nutz and is the brainchild of Dustin Ellis, Aly Jetha and Shabnam Rezaei. They started Norooz Productions and now want to reach a bigger audience. Mixed Nutz features the Iranian character “Babak”, in addition to an Indian boy “Sanjay”, a Cuban “Damaris” and a Korean “Jae”. The episodes cover the daily trials and tribulations of the four characters, using culture as a backdrop. The kids go through funny adventures such as going to swim class with an ex-Navy seal coach, learning to work together and just trying to fit in. Some other highlights include an Indian wedding, a trip to Iran, and a fun-filled food episode. The goal of Norooz with the series remains to educate kids (and parents) about the beauty of tolerance, in a fun, educational and entertaining way. They have recruited the best talent in the industry like Alfred Gimeno, three-time Emmy Award winner who joined them from Dreamworks. We look forward to this!
For more visit www.babakandfriends.com
|
|
|
|
Write a Letter to the Editor or
Send an email to this author |
More DVDs Articles
|
|
|
ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
|
Sara Sepidzadeh is an artist and journalist from Chicago, Illinois.
With a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Chicago, Sara has always been involved in the arts and literature. When in college, she ran the advertising and marketing office of the school newspaper. She has since worked as a free lance journalist and writer for two newspapers in Tehran. More recently, she has been working at ABOUT, Chicago Magazine, and PerisanMirror.
|
|
|
This article was contributed by SARA SEPIDZADEH, Guest Contributor for PersianMirror.
|
|
|
|
| Back to Homepage |
|
|
