Short Film! Immigration, Alienation, Racism, Love

Check out a more detailed presentation of the project here.

Our names are Jacopo, from Italy, and Sumai, from Syria.

As last year's project in our film school "Catalyst", at Berlin Funkhaus, we are fundraising for a short film, whose story comes from our urge to talk about immigration.

LOGLINE

A young Syrian refugee in Germany goes to a Halloween party seeking to leave behind his origins, integrate into a new culture, and ultimately find a girl to love.

STORY

The film takes a look at an exceptional weekend of Nadeem’s life, in which Nadeem decides to finally take action in his social life after months of passivity.

During a casual hang-out with his Syrian friends, Nadeem appears rather silent and disapproving as his friends share their experiences of conflict and the difficulties they face integrating into western society. During these discussions, Nadeem learns about a Halloween techno party. He becomes upset after asking his friends to join him, but they all refuse.

At home, Nadeem masturbates, puts on a Syrian costume for the party, and makes his way to the part, alone.

There, he meets two people, Sara and Benno. Sara is a girl he likes and tries to get with. Benno, on the other hand, acts rudely towards him, causing Nadeem to sink into his head and into imaginary scenarios of his which results in Nadeem losing sight and contact with Sara as she goes off into the party. Nadeem fluctuates between moments of isolation and expressive dancing, and connecting and conversing with the DJ and the people around him for brief moments, as he moves through the party.

THEMES

Identity crisis, segregation.

Nadeem, unlike his Syrian friends, no longer feels fulfilled living only in his Syrian/Arab community in Germany, which seems at clash with society. He feels torn and unhappy, lonely and intensely frustrated, by the lack of romance in his life. The journey to the club is to represent his journey to his new country Germany. In the club/society, Nadeem feels lonely at times, has superficial and fleeting social connections with people, and often feels unwelcomed by some, causing Nadeem to feel lost, in crisis with his identity, and isolated. The theme of Halloween expresses how this new community is utterly strange to Nadeem, with the way people are dressed in different kinds of costumes.

Thank you so much for reading about our project! We will be eternally grateful if you want to give us a little help. When the film is ready, we will share it with you and add your name to the final credits, with a special thanks :)