Plot

De jonge Tarik (11) wordt door zijn pragmatische vader Elias (35) ingezet om te helpen bij het vervoeren van illegale vluchtelingen. Wanneer er onderweg een ongeluk gebeurt wordt duidelijk hoe ver Tarik moet gaan om de erkenning van z’n vader te verdienen.

* * *

Tarik is an 11-year-old kid who helps his father transport illegal immigrants into the Netherlands. When an accident occurs, Tarik gets a chance to gain the acknowledgment from his father he has always yearned for, but at a high price - the loss of his own innocence.

* * *

How much is a child’s innocence? As much as it’s worth to exchange it for a night shift. Maybe is’t a routine, to transport a load of immigrants, people, sort of people, livestock squished in a van without windows. Tarik is a good son helping his father. Tonight, he might earn his praise. Tonight, he might find out the price of his innocence.

   Призы и награды

ENCOUNTERS SHORT FILM AND ANIMATION FESTIVAL, Bristol (UK)
OSCAR® & EFA qualifying festival

CLERMONT-FERRAND INT. SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, Clermont-Ferrand (FRANCE)
OSCAR® & EFA qualifying festival

LEEDS INT. FILM FESTIVAL, Leeds (UK)
OSCAR® qualifying festival
Winner of the SPECIAL MENTION (Louis Le Prince Short Film Competition)

BISFF - BUSAN INT. SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, Busan (SOUTH KOREA)
OSCAR® qualifying festival

ODENSE INT. FILM FESTIVAL, Odense (DENMARK)
OSCAR® & EFA qualifying festival

SAPPORO INT. SHORT FILM FESTIVAL & MARKET, Sapporo (JAPAN)
OSCAR® qualifying festival

BRUSSELS SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, Brussels (Belgium)
OSCAR® qualifying festival

TIRANA INT. FILM FESTIVAL, Tirana (ALBANIA)
OSCAR® qualifying festival

NEDERLANDS FILM FESTIVAL, Utrecht (the NETHERLANDS)

EL GOUNA FILM FESTIVAL, El Gouna (EGYPT)
Winner of EL GOUNA GOLD STAR AWARD FOR FEATURE SHORT FILM

INT. BOSPHORUS FILM FESTIVAL, Istanbul (TURKEY)

IFF SLEEPWALKERS | PÖFF SHORTS, Tallinn (ESTONIA)

GIFFONI FILM FESTIVAL, Giffoni Valle Piana (ITALY)

ISCHIA FILM FESTIVAL, Ischia (ITALY)

SEDICICORTO INT. FILM FESTIVAL, Forlì (ITALY)

SHORTS INT. FILM FESTIVAL - MAREMETRAGGIO, Trieste (ITALY)

FESTIVAL CINEMA AFRICANO, ASIA E AMERICA LATINA, Milano (ITALY)
Winner of the STUDENTS JURY AWARD

CORTO DORICO, Ancona (ITALY)

LANDSHUT SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, Landshut (GERMANY)

EINDHOVENS FILM FESTIVAL, Eindhovens (the NETHERLANDS)

FESTIVAL ALTO VICENTINO, Santorso (ITALY)
Winner of the JURY AWARD

AUDI DUBLIN INT. FILM FESTIVAL, Dublin (Ireland)

MINNEAPOLIS ST. PAUL INT. FILM FESTIVAL, Minneapolis (USA)

ROMA TRE FILM FESTIVAL, Rome (ITALY)
Winner of BEST SHORT FILM

LUCCA FILM FESTIVAL, Lucca (ITALY)

CAPODARCO L'ALTRO FESTIVAL - PREMIO L'ANELLO DEBOLE, Capodarco di Fermo (ITALY)
Winner of BEST SHORT FILM

FABRIANO FILM FEST, Fabriano (ITALY)
Winner of BEST ACTOR (Kubilay Sengul)

MOLISECINEMA FILM FESTIVAL, Casacalenda (ITALY)

CISTERNA FILM FESTIVAL, Cisterna di Latina (ITALY)
Winner of BEST SHORT FILM

VALDARNO CINEMA FILM FESTIVAL, S. Giovanni Valdarno (ITALY)
Winner of BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM

CINEMADAMARE, various locations (ITALY)

MALESCORTO, Malesco (ITALY)

EDERA FILM FESTIVAL, Treviso (ITALY)
Winner of BEST SHORT FILM

LUCANIA FILM FESTIVAL, Pisticci (ITALY)

TOKO FILM FESTIVAL, Sala Consilina (ITALY)

PERIFERIA DELL'IMPERO FILM FESTIVAL, Sessa Aurunca (ITALY)

INVENTA UN FILM, Lenola (ITALY)

SATURNIA FILM FESTIVAL, Manciano - Montemerano - Terme di Saturnia (ITALY)
Winner of BEST INT. SHORT FILM

GARGANO FILM FEST, S. Giovanni Rotondo (ITALY)
Winner of the SPECIAL MENTION

CORTO E CULTURA FILM FESTIVAL, Manfredonia (ITALY)

VISIONI CORTE, Minturno (ITALY)

ADRIATIC FILM FESTIVAL, Francavilla al Mare (ITALY)

SCIACCA FILM FESTIVAL, Sciacca (ITALY)

ORVIETO CINEMA FEST, Orvieto (ITALY)
Winner of BEST SHORT FILM (Mediterranean & Sea)

OUT OF BOUNDS FILM FESTIVAL, Barletta (ITALY)
Winner of the JURY SPECIAL MENTION

CERVIGNANO FILM FESTIVAL, Cervignano del Friuli (ITALY)
Winner of BEST SHORT FILM

FIATICORTI FILM FESTIVAL, Treviso (ITALY)

CORTOCIRCUITO - SAVIGLIANO FILM FESTIVAL, Savigliano (ITALY)

REGGIO FILM FESTIVAL, Reggio Emilia (ITALY)

MESTRE FILM FESTIVAL, Mestre (ITALY)

VIA DEI CORTI, Gravina di Catania (ITALY)

SOUQ FILM FESTIVAL, Milano (ITALY)

MYART FILM FESTIVAL, Cosenza (ITALY)

PENTEDATTILO FILM FESTIVAL, Reggio Calabria (ITALY)

CATANIA FILM FESTIVAL - GOLD ELEPHANT WORLD, Catania (ITALY)
Winner of the SPECIAL MENTION

SCHERMI IRREGOLARI, Bagno a Ripoli (ITALY)

   Режиссёр о фильме

Why did you want to focus a film on an illegal immigrants transporter?
It all started with some CCTV footage I saw online of a minivan on a European highway – suddenly it flips 180 degrees and then comes to a halt. The driver gets out and runs off and then from the back of the van about 30 people get out, including many children. I realised that with the refugee crisis going, there’s so many different stories and tragedies, and that I hadn’t ever seen anything about the people who drive those vans. The driver that ran off stuck with me – I was interested to see what his story could be.

Why did you choose to portray a transporter who could himself be identified as an immigrant?
In research, we found people smugglers often use drivers who can speak multiple languages, Arabic or Turkish for example. This makes the communication between smuggler/driver and driver/refugees a lot easier. I especially found this interesting because it shows that we live in a world now, and even more so in the near future, where every single person has certain roots somewhere. The driver in my film may be born in Holland but his parents have immigrated from Turkey once. The focus on someone’s background or nationality will become less important I hope. Everything is shifting.

How much are you interested on father-son relationship and do you have further projects on this theme?
This is my main thematic interest. Nearly all the films I’ve done so far deal with this. I’m planning to write a feature film in which I can explore my take on this classic theme in more depth.

Did you write this special night as some sort of a ritual for Tarik? I thought it wasn’t his first transport night with his father, but sill is there some kind of initation in Nachtschade?
Me and the writer Jeroen Scholten van Aschat always approached the story as a dark coming of age. Nachtschade (Nightshade) is a family of plants that only grows in the night. The boy comes of age in this night – he is finally acknowledged by his father at the end of the film, which was all he longed for, but pays a high price for it. The film is a tragedy – every kid looks up to it’s parent, but often fail to see who their parents really are.

How did you work on the lights and sound ? In particular for the truck cab’s atmosphere?
We shot all the driving scenes on a low-loader so we had quite some freedom with lightning. The apporach of the film was to tell the story subjectively from the boy’s perspective. In lightning we wanted to work with color as we felt that for the boy this was like a night out. It’s quite a grim world that we portray but not for him. To him the road, the streetlights, it’s an adventure. In sounds we spend quite some time recording people in the back of the van to get what we needed. I directed them without camera – just sound. There’s a long sequence in which a lot of the drama is told in sound so it took us a while to get that right.

Did you research the real illegal immigrants transport accidents resulting in death and laws surrounding these cases?
We definitely did research. It believe that you need to in order to truthfully portray a world which is not yours. But at some point I do think you have to let go of the reality and just go ahead and tell your story. The most important thing in developing this was that we never wanted to be sentimental in any way. To have an honest storytelling approach towards the drama. I hope that stands out.

What sort of freedom would you say the short format allows?
I think shorts are so important for young filmmakers to experiment and find your voice. But then again, I’ve also found myself feeling limited by the short form as there’s only so much that you can explore within it. I’m looking forward to be able to make a feature to find more depth in storytelling.

   Альтернативные постеры

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