I had the opportunity to interview director Huda Razzak of the Oscar® qualifying short The Ocean Duck. The short is a timeless tale that brings to life an ancient tale inspired by a poem written by Rumi Masnav. Through email, Razzak responded to my questions:

How did you come up with the short film? Is it biographical? 

The Ocean Duck is a very personal film because it is actually based on my relationship with my grandmother. We were very close, and a few years ago, she passed away after a long struggle with dementia. I wanted to make this film for her, to honor her memory, and to capture the spirit of grief and healing. I also wanted to reconnect to the mixed Arab and Persian cultures we shared. I was once going through our family library of poetry and art, and I came across a Rumi poem about a duck who lived among hens because it had forgotten its true home was the ocean, a symbol of the eternal. The metaphor really resonated with me and became the basis for the short. 

Poetry is very symbolic. What were some challenges with trying to translate the poem and your story to a greater audience? 

One of the biggest challenges in the story development of the film was to clarify the theme of the poem without spelling it out to the audience. After going through several rewrites and showing the storyboard animatic drafts to my team and peers for feedback, we determined that the most effective way in expressing that idea of the eternal was not through dialogue or exposition but through the visuals in the film.

Do you have plans to expand on the short film? 

Yes – I recently started developing a new concept for a feature that is inspired by my mother’s refugee experience, a story that would build upon the themes, magical realism, and style of animation of The Ocean Duck.

Anything else that you would like to share?

I want to give a huge shout-out to the wonderful crew behind the film and especially to our five amazing leads. My Anh Ngo, co-director and animation supervisor, led a team of animators to craft the character animation and performance of the film. Katarzyna Doszla, our art director, visually developed and painted all of the exquisite backgrounds. Denise Anger, the lead rigging artist, designed the 2D rigs used for our hybrid 2D animation approach. Ryen Goebel, the visual effects lead, created the perspective-challenging effects in the film. And finally, Stephanie Hamelin Tomala coordinated the work on sound and composed our beautiful score.

Learn more about Huda Razzak here: https://www.hudarazzak.com/

Learn more about the short film here: https://theoceanduckfilm.com/

Watch the trailer:

*All images provided by The Ocean Duck and Huda Razzak.