Hafez Project
An animation film inspired by the poetry of Hafez
‘Tongue of the Hidden’ is a film directed by David Anderson based on a handprinted Artist’s book by Jila Peacock that contains ten love poems from the collected works, or Divan of Hafez, the fourteenth-century Persian metaphysical poet from Shiraz, whose work is accepted as expressing some of the central ideas of Sufism, the spiritual aspect of Islam. The whole Persian text of each poem has been designed in the shape of an animal mentioned by Hafez in the text, and set alongside a modern English translation by the artist herself. A conventional transcription in Persian script, appears at the end of the book.
Commissioned by Animate Projects and funded by Arts Council England and Channel 4, the film was premiered at the National Film Theatre in October 2007 as part of the London Film Festival and as part on Animate TV on C4 in December 2007.
“ Tongue of the Hidden sees David Alexander Anderson joining forces with Iranian born calligrapher Jila Peacock to bring the works of thirteenth-century Persian metaphysical poet Hafez to life. Using only Hafez’s letters and words, they create an ethereal, shimmering landscape, with characters swaying like leaves on a tree and rising like smoke from a fire. One moment fronds of a weeping willow, letters just as quickly transform into fish food, plunged through a sea of Arabic writing, shedding bubbles of cobalt blue calligraphy. It’s powerful stuff. ”
Alexi Duggins, Timeout London 178, November 28, 2007