Directors Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

The Oscar for animated short film went to “In the Shadow of the Cypress,” a wordless 20-minute animated film from married Iranian directors Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi. The film explores a father’s post-traumatic stress disorder—representing the difficulties of war veterans in Iran—and its impact on his daughter in their house by the sea.

Winners Sohani and Molayemi traded a phone with an acceptance speech written in English, not their native language. The two had trouble getting a visa and only received it yesterday. “We were so totally disappointed,” said Sohani, “and now we are here.” The two had walked off the plane in Los Angeles three hours before the ceremony.