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Title: Watering Plastic Flowers
Runtime: 9 min
Country: Iran
Director: Kathy Kiany
Placement: Honorable Mention
Competition: December, 2025
Synopsis: This short animation follows a nine-year-old girl from a religious Middle Eastern family. In a conversation with her brother, who prides himself on his masculine power, she realizes her new jurisprudential duties as she reaches the age of ‘religious puberty.’ These duties include preparing for marriage and wearing the obligatory hijab.
A vibrant child with big dreams for her future, she finds these rules conflicting with her aspirations, becoming incredibly irritated and furious. Seeking support, she turns to her mother. However, her mother, once a victim of the same rigid rules, feels powerless and unable to help.\