THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

GAVAZN

Title: گوزن
Roman transliteration of title: Gavazn
English translation of title: Deer
Year of release: 2022
Director: Hadi Babaeifar
Country of Production: Iran
Principal Boy Actor: Ehsan and Arsalan Bakhshinezhad play the older and younger brother respectively. 
Genre: Drama, Short
Length: 13 minutes
Language: Persian
Availability: Digital file with hardsubbed English subtitles

Synopsis
In a snowbound village in Northern Iran, Ehsan has to watch helplessly whilst his sick brother struggles to remain alive. When his parents take Ehsan away to relatives, the boy decides to set off back home through the snowy night, to defend his brother against the angel of death, who he believes has disguised himself as a deer.

The opening credits inform the viewer that the story of the film is in part inspired by 'Wild Dumrul Son of Dukha Koja' in The Book of Dede Korkut, this latter being a collection of twelve stories set in the heroic age of the Oghuz Turks. In the story of Wild Dumrul, the eponymous protagonist challenges Azrael, the Angel of Death, to a fight, purportedly in order to save the life of a fallen warrior, though more out of his own vainglory. When Azrael appears before Dumrul, the latter tries to block his escape, but Azrael turns himself into a dove and flies away, thus establishing that the Angel of Death can take the form of an animal.

A clip from the film can be viewed on Youtube here.

Screenshots