Animation and documentaries make up trio of film screenings

Three events centered on films — 33 movies in all — will kick off Thursday at Columbus-area theaters.

One features an animated exploration of sexual restrictions in Iran; another explores the central Ohio music scene; and the third consists of a 31-film program of documentaries. club bathroom; afterward, Donya tells Babak that she is engaged and that he must help her surgically replace her hymen or they will both be killed.

Soozandeh lived in Iran until age 25, when he moved to Germany. There, he overheard a conversation between two young Iranian men about their sex lives back home, and one mentioned seeing a prostitute on the street accompanied by a young boy.

“It was the beginning of the stories,” Soozandeh, 48, said during an interview from his home in Cologne, Germany.

The filmmaker said he wanted to raise questions about repression and double standards in Iran.

For example, in one scene, a man picks up Pari for sex, then becomes enraged when he sees his daughter holding hands with a man as they walk down a sidewalk.

“The people everywhere have the same needs, the same wants; they want to have very simple lives," he said. "Why we have to fight for that, that’s big question in our minds."

Animation was used because filming in Iran wasn’t possible, Soozandeh said. (The film was made in Germany and Austria.)

“We need permission to shoot from the cultural ministry, the police," he said. "It wasn’t possible for us to get permission to shoot in Iran. I think animation, it was a way to get around censorship in Iran.”

Plus, Soozandeh feared for his freedom.

“I think I can go back to Iran,” he said, “but the question is whether I can get out again.”

The animation combines computer-generated imagery and rotoscope. Because Tehran has an appearance so distinctive that no other city could be used as a substitute, Soozandeh obtained photographs of Iranian storefronts and used CGI to animate the images.

With rotoscope, actors are filmed in front of a greenscreen, and a computer traces the images to animate the characters. The characters and scenery are combined to create animation.

Soozandeh hopes that the film, which has been shown only in underground screenings in Iran, fuels discussion in his homeland.

“The movie can ask the people (questions)," he said. "It cannot give answers, but it can be the start of a dialogue — and it’s very important to start that dialogue. I think for finding a solution, you need to start a dialogue.”

Where: Wexner Center, 1871 N. High St.

Contact: 614-292-3535, www.wexarts.org Showtime: 7 p.m. Thursday Admission: $8, or $6 for center members, OSU students and senior citizens

Groove U. is known primarily as a school that trains people to enter the music industry, but the students at the Dublin institution are about to unveil a documentary.

“Homegrown: Becoming a Music City” was the capstone project for about a half-dozen students, said Austin Finley, a project co-leader.

In the movie, Finley said, students interviewed area musicians, producers and booking agents about the burgeoning Columbus music scene.

“Really, (it) expressed our belief that Columbus is on its way to becoming one of the next major music cities,” said Finley, 21, of Granville. “We think it already is a major music city; it just doesn’t have the recognition of a Nashville or a New York.”

The film will be screened