- A Moderate Voice in a Divided Country

Overview

I created a short animation telling the story of Jalal Talabani, covering his early life and his fight for Kurdish rights against Saddam Hussein. The video combines custom animations, map visualizations using the Geolayers plugin, and sound design to make the story engaging and accessible. I also wrote the script and generated the narration using AI text-to-speech.

This project allowed me to experiment with storytelling in animation, blending historical context with visual elements that guide the viewer through the narrative. Every motion, transition, and map highlight was designed to keep the flow smooth while emphasizing key moments in his life.

Disclaimer

This work is purely artistic and does not imply any affiliation with or against any political parties. All information is sourced from publicly available Wikipedia entries and has not been independently verified.

The video opens with a simple typewriter-style text animation. It gives the introduction a bit of rhythm and sets the tone for the story in a straightforward way.

When presenting images throughout the video, I placed them in white-bordered frames slightly smaller than the video frame and transitioned them like a slideshow. This approach keeps the visuals organized, adds breathing room, and ensures the viewer focuses on each image rather than being overwhelmed by the full screen.

For the part introducing Jalal Talabani and Saddam Hussein, I animated a map of Iraq with the camera slowly tilting. Cards for each figure appear on the map with Talabani in green text and Hussein in red, along with their photos.

In the segment about the Halabja chemical attack, the camera orbits around the city while a smoke animation rises, indicating the attack. The movement and effect are meant to give the event weight and make the scene more impactful while keeping it clear and understandable.

This clip shows the Anfal campaign and multiple chemical attacks across Kurdistan. I used the same smoke animation from the Halabja scene, but this time there are six smoke effects spread throughout the region on the map.

Tools Used