Cypress trees can grow in the toughest of places. They’re renowned for their resilience, andin iran they are trasitionally seen as symbols of purity, but they don’t provide much of a shadow. The characters in Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani’s Oscar-nominated short animation have little protection from the glare of the sun. The simple animation style makes them seem all the more exposed, unable to hide their shared suffering.

It is perhaps hardest for the man, who was once a creature of the sea, a captain; he has been confined to the land since his ship was torn apart in war. This we see in flashbacks, which cause him to rave and sometimes act out violently, in the lonely little house on the sunny shore. The boat sits just out beyond the waves, a stark metaphor for his brokenness. Perhaps he could repair it – or dispose of...