The Dead Speak Many Languages. The Old Young Crow Uses Two.

There are no words to adequately relay to readers the journey The Old Young Crow took me on in the span of twelve minutes.

The first of the films to screen in this leg of the competition, its storytelling and masterful mixing of live action and animation rendered me absolutely speechless. Detailing the story of an aloof Iranian boy moving to Tokyo, director Liam LoPinto takes you somewhere completely magical—-the in-betweens of life and death.

Video Credit: AFI

The young boy, Mehrdad, retreats to drawing as a form of solace, using a local graveyard as his personal haven. Foreign to the language, culture, and idiosyncrasies of Japanese life, Mehrdad finds himself alienated from the rest of his peers and struggling to adapt. Other than the crows he’s always surrounded by the graveyard is lonely but comfortable.

Photo Credit: AFI

That is until he comes across Chiyo, an elderly Japanese woman visiting the grave of her son who disappeared 40 years ago.

Photo Credit: AFI

The rest of the film follows Mehrdad trying to solve the supernatural series of events that he experiences, attempting to define the mystical with some kind of practical explanation.

The power of a great—not just good—film is indescribable.

The full list of films screening at this year’s AFI Film Fest, can be accessed here: Film Results | AFI FEST