An Immigrant’s Heart

Sarah Saidan’s whimsical short Home of the Heart offers a memorable look at a displaced man’s dilemma.

Sarah Saidan’s memorable and touching short Home of the Heart (À Coeur Perdu) has received numerous prizes, including the Oscar-qualifying Jury Prize for Animation at this year’s New York Intl. Children’s Festival. The beautifully crafted, 2D-animated short follows the misadventures of an Iranian immigrant in France, who goes back to his home country in search of his missing heart. The whimsical short was inspired by the real-life experiences of the talented French-Iranian director.

“I have lived in France for over a decade, but I remember the time that someone who really didn’t know me asked me when I planned to go home,” Saidan recalls. “It was in the afternoon, so I looked at my watch, but then, I realized he meant my home country of Iran, not my apartment In Paris. I’ve had many of these bitter but funny moments as an immigrant, but this one made me question where my real home was. I’ve never felt like I belonged in France, and when I had gone back to Iran, I didn’t recognize it anymore because everything had changed so much. The question haunted me. They say home is where the heart is, so I decided to make a humorous short based on the premise: What if you don’t know where your heart is?”

A Universal Tale

The director adds, “I think the short is, more or less, the story of any immigrant. My sister and I, we are both immigrants — in different countries — so this story is quite personal to us.”

Saidan began writing her short in early 2019,

“They say home is where the heart is, so I decided to make a humorous short based on the premise: What if you don’t know where your heart is?” and it took about three years for the team to finish the project, which was done during the height of the pandemic years in France. “Around 25 people participated in different stages of the work,” says Saidan.

“For the animation, we had four animators for four months. The animation was done in Toon Boom, which allowed us to have a mix of 2D drawn and digital cut-out animation. It’s practical and helped us save some time on the production.”

One of the main challenges for Saidan was visualizing how difficult it is for a foreigner to learn saying numbers in French. “The main character of the short, Omid, is still not very good at numbers and he finds them strange, but he is a cashier, so it is a problem for him,” the director explains.” I had to show the weird construction of the numbers and Omid trying to remember and pronounce them in a way it conveyed this difficulty. I remember, I kept re-doing this scene until the last moment. This was literally the last scene we animated!”

Saidan made her first animated project back when she was a 21-year-old university student in Tehran studying graphic design. “We had one animation course and I made a few seconds of animation, but as soon as I saw my drawings move on the screen, the excitement it brought me was incomparable to anything I had ever experienced! I knew I wanted to do this forever.”

Among her many influences and idols, the director mentions Michaël Dudok de Wit (Father and Daughter), Torill Kove (The Danish Poet), Hayao Miyazaki, Caroline Leaf, Yuri Norstein, Peter Lord, Wes Anderson and Michel Gondry. “I also admire the intelligence, style and humor of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and her comic strips,” Saidan notes. “Each time I make a film, it allows me to meet new people. On my last project, I got to know so many amazing people. Some of them have now become my good friends with whom I am making a new film together.”

When asked about the lessons she learned from the making of her short, Saidan says one of the most important things is to remember that a director is responsible for everything that happens at the studio or on the film. “You should not be shy or too intimidated to ask too many questions. You have to stay informed about everything,” she says. “Remember that you must be, at least, a little crazy to want to make animated films, but if you are, good for you! There is nothing more magical than making animated films. Do it passionately and work will come to you!” ◆