"Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic" is a visually breathtaking cinematic shadow play for all ages, created and directed by Hamid Rahmanian, a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship-winning filmmaker/visual artist. Inspired by the tenth century Persian epic "Shahnameh" (The Book of Kings), it dramatizes the origin story from the tale with elaborate shadow puppets, multimedia and live actors. The production, which debuted at BAM in 2016 and was presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the same year, returns to New York next month for two days only. It will be presented by Fictionville Studio September 7 and 8 at Kaye Playhouse, 695 Park Ave. (at 68th Street), for three performances only before it travels to China and Paris.
The play is an action-packed magical tale of star-crossed lovers. An outcast albino boy, Zaul, is brought up by a bird-goddess and grows up into a wise ruler. He enters into a forbidden love with princess Rudabeh, the granddaughter of the dreaded Serpent King. Their young, impetuous romance survives many precarious adventures before they finally receive blessings for their union. When they ultimately have a child, it is Rostam, "the Hercules of Iran." Aspects of the story are reminiscent of "Romeo and Juliet," "Rapunzel," "The Firebird" and "Jungle Book." Rahmanian's graphics, derived from the visual traditions of the region, are rendered in puppets, costumes, masks, scenography and digital animation, all of which come to life in a "live animation" shadow casting technique perfected by shadow master Larry Reed on a cinema-size screen. Reed was trained as a dalang ("shadow master") in the Balinese Wayang Kulit tradition and his productions combine multimedia and live actors. The puppets are handcrafted from special cardboard and colored celluloid. Backgrounds are projected by two high-end projectors donated by Canon USA for that purpose. There is an original score by Iranian-American musicians Loga Ramin Torkian and Azam Ali that is played on the saz, ney and kamaan as well as sung.The next year, his short film, "Am I Within," received Kodak's Best Cinematography Award, Best American Short from the LA International Short Film Festival and Special Achievement Award from the USA Film Festival. This was followed by three successful documentaries. His first feature length fiction film, "Day Break" (2005), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, screened at the Venice and Tribeca Film Festivals, and won Special Jury Prize at the International Film Festival of Prime in 2006. Variety called it "An impressive debut feature that works like a ticking time bomb." By 2008, he had directed seven films. He was awarded a Guggenheim in 2014, the year he began experimenting with shadow theater techniques He first created a 20-minute shadow play with overhead projectors, "Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King," which was presented at at New York's Asia Society and BAM. "Feathers of Fire" followed in 2016, premiering at BAM and playing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That same year, he was commissioned by the Onassis Foundation to write and direct "Mina's Dream," a shadow play based the Greek tragedy of Antigone. He is currently designing animations for with Yo Yo Ma's Silkroad Ensemble production of "Heroes," an opera that is also based on "Shahnameh" ("The Book of Kings").
Rahmanian's films have been televised on PBS, Sundance Channel, IFC, Channel 4, BBC, DR2, and Al Jazeera. They endeavor to combat negative stereotypes about Iranians, to promote anti-capital punishment laws in the US and to raise funds and awareness for the plights of disadvantaged women and girls around the world. Much of Rahmanian's work is dedicated to providing a "holistic" view of Iranian culture by exposing children (and their parents) to its formative legends. His principal effort in the last five years had been the creation of a set of four works, all in different media, based on "Shahnameh" ("The Book of Kings"), a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi. The national epic of Iran, it deals with the mythical and somewhat historical past of the Persian Empire, from creation to the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th century. It is the world's longest work by a single poet and is considered responsible for the preservation of the Persian language from Arabic. The first part of this massive project was the book "Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings," a 600-page illustrated new translation by Ahmad Sadri, illustrated by Hamid Rehmanian, that was published in 2013 by Quantuck Lane Press/WW Norton. (See: http://www.kingorama.com/epic-shahnameh/.) It is now in its sixth printing. The second part of the project was release of "Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings" as a 12-hour audiobook performed by Marc Thompson. (See: http://www.kingorama.com/shahnameh-audiobook/.) The third part was "Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King," the very first pop-up book on the epic, designed by Rahmanian and paper engineer Simon Arizpe, published by Fantagraphics Books. (See: http://www.kingorama.com/shahnameh-zahhak-the-legend-of-the-serpent-king/.) The fourth part is the shadow play, "Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic." Tickets to "Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic" at Kaye Playhouse are $25-55. Performances are Friday, September 7 at 7:00 and Saturday, September 8 at 2:00 and 6:00. To purchase tickets, go to http://www.kingorama.com or call Kaye Playhouse Box Office, 212-772-4448. VIP tickets are $250 for two premium seats, a backstage tour with director Hamid Rahmanian, one signed copy of the pop up book," Zahhak: Legend of the Serpent King" and a Feathers of Fire tote bag. VIP tickets are available only at: http://www.kingorama.com/vip-tix.Photo by Fictionville Studio.
Hamid Rahmanian with shadow puppet
Backstage view showing actors and shadow projections
Zaul at the King's court. Photo by Fictionville Studio.
While sailing, Zaul is protected by a Sea Monster.
Zaul befriends a lion.
The star-crossed lovers: Zaul and Rudabeh.
The bird goddess (Simorgh) bids farewell to Zaul
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