As with other literary masterpieces, the Iranian national epic, the Shahnama (Book of Kings), has an appeal and an elasticity that have allowed successive generations to discover or invent new meanings. Inspired by the text, many contemporary Iranian artists elect to bypass its universalities in favor of more specific social commentary. In this animated video, Rostam, the great hero of the Shahnama, is transplanted to the twenty-first century, where he struggles with the comically absurd and all-too-realistic trials of everyday life in Iran: inflation, drug addiction, extreme plastic surgery, and the harsh realities of economic sanctions.
Pouya Afshar, the creator and producer of the Rostam in Wonderland series, is a multimedia artist and professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where he teaches animation and interactive media. His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions in Los Angeles and Tehran. Soroush Rezaee is an animator whose Tehran-based studio, Sooriland, has produced numerous popular web series. He wrote, directed, and animated the Rostam in Wonderland videos.
