Animation About Religious Freedom Takes Top Prize

An Iranian Christian has won a top prize for making an animation about religious freedom.

Maral Karaee’s work is called “District 18” and won the Grand Prize in the Animation category of the Short Film Competition, run by Empower Women Media and the Religious Freedom and Business Association.

Christian Today reports, the animation tells the story of a girl who lives in a world where people of different colours – red, blue, green, and yellow – are not allowed to mix.

When the girl accidentally breaks the rules, she is cast out from society until she discovers District 18, where all four colours mix.

Maral has told Open Doors, the “18” stands for Article 18 of the UN Charter for Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

Maral left Iran as a teenager and became a Christian at the age of 19.

She says nearly 20 years on she can’t return to her home country because her conversion is against the law.