PROJECT UNLONELY FILMS Season 9

The Old Young Crow

Liam LoPinto

Director, Writer, Editor, Producer, Animator, Sound Designer, Illustrator

Runtime: 12:00 min
An Iranian boy befriends an old Japanese woman at a graveyard in Tokyo.
Difference

Filmmaker's Inspiration

This film was born out of a major personal health and identity crisis while I was studying in Tokyo. I met Shohreh Golparian, who was Abbas Kiarostami’s translator and assistant while he was making Like Someone in Love, his last narrative feature, in Japan. She’s also the liaison and contact for many great Iranian directors who come to Japan like Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Amir Naderi. She introduced me to the retrospective that galvanized me to make the film. Those films are “The Runner,” “Where is The Friend’s House?,” “Willow and Wind,” and “The Mirror.” I decided then to make a film about my time living and studying and working in Japan, as well as focusing on the Iranian diaspora in Japan. There was a really amazing experience of reconnecting with my own culture and diaspora through being in Japan. The film is a combination of animation and live action, both my trades, and an intersection of my family and journey involving grief. It’s a mission statement of the kind of films I want to make, crossing mediums and cultures and languages in order to reconnect with my own.

Meet the Filmmaker

Liam LoPinto

Liam LoPinto is an Iranian-American filmmaker and animator from New York City. Between 2013 and 2021, he studied at NYU Tisch’s Undergraduate Film Program, CalArts’ Character Animation Program, and Waseda University’s SILS Program in Tokyo. His film French Fly was selected for CAA Moebius’ 5th Showcase, while his award winning short documentary Karam Camera was made in partnership with Karam Foundation focusing on empowering young Syrian refugees.

His debut film out of school, The Old Young Crow, Executive Produced by Emmy® and Tony® Nominee Arian Moayed and Academy® Award Winner Rayka Zehtabchi, won more than 80 awards internationally including an OSCAR® qualifying Best of Festival award at Palm Springs International ShortFest amongst Special Jury Prizes from Sitgés, Oberhausen, and the Gold Screen Young Directors Award. In addition, Crow was an Official Selection of Cairo International Film Festival, AFI Film Fest, SXSW Sydney, Stockholm International Film Festival, Vimeo Staff Picks, Short Of The Week, Omeleto, and Gold House’s 2024 Gold List.

In 2024, he received the NYSCA Artist’s Grant and was selected for the Pillars Artist Fellowship in partnership with Riz Ahmed and Left Handed Films. He currently works as an Assistant Manager at The Moviehouse in Millerton, New York, where he contributes to special programming and screenings.

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