The NFB is committed to respecting your privacy

We use cookies to ensure that our site works efficiently, as well as for advertising purposes.

If you do not wish to have your information used in this way, you can modify your browser settings before continuing your visit.

Learn more
Skip to content Accessibility

Samaa

A caged bird discovers that true freedom emerges not through struggle, but through surrender to rhythm and movement.
Your rental expires on
None
You've already purchased this film.
Download it from My purchases.

Details

In Iranian culture, samaa is the spiritual practice of achieving awakening through rhythm and movement. In an imagined captivity, a caged bird flutters and thrashes in a desperate struggle to escape. Rendered in striking hand-painted animation and driven by a visceral drum score, the film traces the bird’s gradual surrender to the transcendent power of music. Filmmaker Ehsan Gharib invites us to consider whether freedom is a physical condition or a state of mind.

Animals Psychology and Psychiatry All subjects
  • direction
    Ehsan Gharib
  • writing
    Ehsan Gharib
  • editing
    Xi Feng
  • musician
    Ziya Tabassian
  • sound design
    Olivier Calvert
  • foley
    Lise Wedlock
  • foley recording
    Geoffrey Mitchell
  • re-recording
    Isabelle Lussier
  • online edit
    Luca di Gioacchino
  • technical direction
    Mathieu Tremblay
    Éloi Champagne
  • titles
    Mélanie Bouchard
    Mohsen Zarrabi
  • technical coordination
    Luc Binette
  • production coordination
    Dominique Forget
    Barry Ahmad
  • line production
    Laetitia Seguin
  • administration
    Victoria Angell
  • studio operations manager
    Camille Fillion
  • marketing
    Geneviève Bérard
  • publicist
    Nadine Viau
  • producer
    Maral Mohammadian
  • executive producer
    Robert McLaughlin
Samaa
Purchase options
Licence information
Already paid to see this film?
Licensing information
Download-to-own (DTO) licence detail
Home licence (worldwide); Classroom licence (Canada only)

You may download this film for private, personal or classroom use only. Public screenings and institutional (non-educational institutions) uses are not permitted.

Download films in standard or high definition. (Please note that bonus materials are not available for DTO films.)

Institutional licence

To purchase an institutional licence or to buy a film that is not available for DTO or VOD on the platform, please contact us.

The institutional price includes the rights to screen the film in institutional settings and at free public screenings.

Additional instructions

DTO films cannot be hosted on a streaming server. To add DTO films to an institutional or educational streaming server, please contact a sales agent to discuss pricing.

You can copy each file up to 5 (five) times, onto various devices.