Suppressed in Iran, He’s Now Animated About His Work

The shah of Iran nurtured Bijan Tehrani’s career as an animator. But because of the Iranian leader’s habit of squashing the free flow of ideas, Tehrani found that the only way he could air his political views was by concealing his message in children’s cartoons.

Some of Tehrani’s early work included an animated children’s show, “Rooster, the Singer,” about a cock too afraid of the sun to crow. He also produced “Ali, the Little,” the story of a boy who used magic paints to brighten the dark skies over his home.

“People in Iran are used to reading between the lines,” Tehrani says. “Adults understand these programs for children were really about freedom of speech.”

After the Iranian Revolution, the Muslim clerics in power showed no more enthusiasm for artistic freedom than the shah. So in 1988, Tehrani settled in Los Angeles. Although Tehrani has the artistic license to express his ideas as he chooses, the one-time filmmaker is sticking with animation, the medium he once took refuge in.

“There is something unique about animated characters,” Tehrani says. “They have a special ability to touch the soul.”

The difference between Los Angeles and Tehran, he muses, is that in Hollywood, he has to woo its moguls. In Iran, he had to woo the mullahs.

For Tehrani, Hollywood is a tougher sell.

Although he still hopes to one day produce a feature-length animated film (he’s seeking funding for his animated features “The Planet of Music” and “The Planet of Silence”), he’s found a niche producing 3-D animated commercials. In 1993, he founded his own Tarzana production company, ARC Advertising, with graphic artist Mahasti Mirhosseini. His animated characters tend toward the talking box of falafel mix or dancing chili variety. The ads, often geared toward immigrants, appear on cable television.

Tehrani, 51, says he delights in the tools now available to animators. When he produced his first animated shorts in Iran, it was hard to obtain foreign software. Since moving to the U.S., he’s been keen to master the latest animation programs and he writes product reviews for Animation magazine.

He also teaches. Four days a week, Tehrani travels to UCLA Extension; Associates in Art in Van Nuys; the Academy of Entertainment and Technology in Santa Monica; and Learning Tree University in Chatsworth to instruct students in the use of 3-D Studio MAX, Lightwave 3D and Adobe AfterEffects--popular programs among animators.

Those who learn them well and use them with artistry are well-paid and sought after, says Edward Kummer, a vice president at Digital Domain in Venice. “Companies like ours are always looking for talented animators,” he says. “But it’s not just about having computer skills--it is also about understanding acting, emotion and timing. It’s also important to have an ability to give an animated character a personality.”

Animators from Digital Domain produced many of the effects on the film “Titanic,” Kummer says, noting that experienced animators earn salaries that start at $80,000. Wages for junior animators, he says, range from $40,000 to $60,000, although he adds that there is more competition for these jobs than there was 18 months ago.

Tehrani is currently working on a commercial for a Turkish snack-food company. He is using motion-capture technology to replicate the movements of a Turkish dancer.

But Tehrani wants his legacy to be more than gyrating bell peppers or shimmying boxes of Turkish cookies. “I want to make a clone of myself,” he says. “I think I’d make a humoristic character--possibly a pirate . . . a guy who is able to escape from his troubles by relying on his magic sense of humor.”

Gali Kronenberg is a freelance writer and regular contributor to The Times. He can be reached at gali.kronenberg@latimes.com

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AT A GLANCE

* Name: Bijan Tehrani

* Occupation: Animator and instructor

* Company: ARC Advertising

* Education: Bachelor’s degree from University of Tehran

* Residence: Los Angeles