The Ocean Duck
A woman visits her ailing grandmother in a hospital during a flood, bringing back fond memories of the past – spilling over into fantastical visions in the present – as an ancient tale comes to life.
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Huda RazzakDirector
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Huda RazzakProducer
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Jeed SaddyKey Cast"Bebe"
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Israa ZainabKey Cast"Younger Heba"
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Huda RazzakKey Cast"Older Heba"
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My Anh NgoCo-Directors
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My Anh NgoAnimation Supervisors
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Katarzyna DoszlaArt Directors
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Ryen GoebelVisual Effects Leads
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Denise AngerLead Rigging Artists
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Stephanie Hamelin TomalaComposers
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Project Type:Animation, Short, Student
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Genres:Magical Realism, Drama, Fantasy, Family, Animation
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Runtime:6 minutes 37 seconds
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Completion Date:May 26, 2021
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Production Budget:5,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:Yes - Savannah College of Art and Design
Huda Razzak was born in Chicago, Illinois to parents who immigrated from Baghdad, Iraq. in 2009, she graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a Certification in Digital Arts and Media. As Huda was preparing for grad school, she decided to pursue her dream of film and animation, practicing the healing art of storytelling instead of medicine. To further prepare herself, Huda chose to attend Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Atlanta to earn her Master of Fine Arts in Animation. Huda focuses primarily in storyboarding, writing, and production. After she graduates, she hopes to work as a story artist in feature animation and one-day explore directing and development.
My grandmother passed away in 2017 after a long battle with dementia. She was the matriarch of my mom’s side of the family who grew up in Iraq, and at one point the treasured source of all our memories. Oftentimes I think of her and reflect on the spiritual contentment she embodied in life, and after her passing, I came across a passage from Rumi’s ‘Masnavi,’ about a forgetful ocean duck who was raised by chickens in a henhouse. This simple symbol of the eternal touched me and became the inspiration for how I wanted to honor my grandmother. With this film, I want to explore my personal experience of remembering her by re-connecting with our shared culture.
I have always found a powerful healing in cultural folktales and myths that are retold through the transcending genre of magical realism. I also find animation to be an art form that is unique in its capability of depicting the fantastical imagery of myth, while also capturing the very real human emotions that inspire them. Through my film, The Ocean Duck, I hope to achieve a visual expression of magical realism that combines the beauty of ancient poetry and illuminated manuscripts with the modern story of a young woman and her grandmother.