Giving Voices To Those Who Don't Have One: Brwa Vahabpour On His Short "Silence"
Director Brwa Vahabpour has directed numerous short films such as Pomegranate and The Shepherd. His latest film, Silence, tells the story of a young deaf girl who struggles to fit in, which he is currently developing a feature-length version of alongside Oslo Picture. This topical short, which looks closely at social isolation, will be screening at the Oscar-qualifying Odense International Film Festival in August.
He is currently developing a feature-length version of Silence alongside Oslo Picture.
A Kurdish girl is deaf and her parents cannot afford to send her to a special school. The girl, therefore, fights against everything.
This topical short, which looks closely at social isolation, will be screening at the Oscar-qualifying Odense International Film Festival in August. We had the pleasure of chatting with Brwa about the film, its origins, finding the right actor, and much much more!
How did you come up with the concept for Silence?
For me, this is a way to give someone a voice who doesn’t have one. It’s a personal story inspired by experiences from my own family.
What about this story resonates with you most?
I can only imagine what it’s like to not hear, but I’ve grown up observing it from my point of view, and what sticks with me the most, are the small situations that occur in the meeting between the deaf and the hearing. There’s something cinematic about that. The story in Silence is basically constructed from these situations.
The film’s narrowed aspect ratio serves as a nice reflection of Bahar’s limited perspective. Aside from the symbolic, what other factors played into your decision to use this particular format?
We shot in 1.66:1 to focus on Bahar amongst everyone else. Also it made us better able to capture the Kurdish mountains.
Ebru Ayse Cakir gives such a strong performance. How did you find this young talent, and what was the process like preparing her for this film?
We were looking both in Kurdistan and Norway for this role. It was a challenge because we were limited to some very specific criteria. For me it was important that the actor was familiar to the character’s newfound predicament. Ebru herself is hearing-impaired, and like Bahar, she has a power that shows the result of her alienation. We rehearsed quite a lot before shooting, but never on a specific scene. It was mainly to make Ebru comfortable in front of the camera.
The cinematography from Lukasz Zamaro is really beautiful. How did the two of you get connected, and how did you arrive on the film’s final look?
I met Lukasz through director Hisham Zaman. Because he had already spent time in Kurdistan, I thought it would be a good idea to bring him on for this film. We found that our taste is quite similar and looked at films from Abbas Kiarostami, including The Wind Will Carry Us, as references for light, framing and landscape. I also had a wonderful experience working with production designer Jalal Saed Panah on the colors and set design.
What drew you to the visual arts? How did you get into directing?
In my teens, I often brought a camera wherever I went to record in case something interesting happened. Eventually, I got into editing and started making short “documentaries” out of the material I had filmed. After a couple of years of studying film, I got an interest for directing actors.
What films or filmmakers inspired this film or your overall approach to storytelling?
I’m inspired by the playfulness and humor of California Dreamin’ by Cristian Nemescu, the simplicity and sensibility of Close-Up by Abbas Kiarostami, and the cinematic style of Memories of Murder by Bong Joon-ho.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
That the potential for expressing oneself can be great, no matter the means.
I hear that you’re working on expanding Silence into a feature, which is very exciting! What are you looking forward to expanding upon the most?
The story of Bahar is already a journey in and on itself, but I’m looking forward to further development of the form and the subjective point of view. The soundscape in correlation with the visuals.
Aside from a feature-length version of the short, do you have any other projects in the works that you can share with us?
I’m currently working as one of three directors for an upcoming TV series.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!