Feature Narrative
TOTAL BUDGET
US $420,000
CONFIRMED FINANCING
US $80,000
CONTACT
info@tharwaproductions.org
A young Syrian man is faced with a dilemma. He has only 5 days to get his papers or face instant deportation to a war zone. With problems on every turn, will he do anything to stay in a city that has taken more refugees than it can afford?
A young Syrian man is faced with a dilemma: he has only five days to acquire his papers before he faces instant deportation to a war zone. With problems at every turn, what can he do to stay in a city that has taken in more refugees than it can afford?
The story came out of a need of mine to show an emotional and empathetic story of a “young man vs the world” where things don’t quite work the way that we want them to.
I wanted to highlight a human story away from politics and war and at the same time set it in Beirut, a city that has taken on the largest number of Syrian refugees to have fled their country. As a person that’s half-Bahraini and half-Lebanese with immigrant routes, I can empathise a lot with characters that are like fish out of water. Beirut is not a destination but a half-way stop, an impermanent place where these refugees are supposed to stay only temporarily. But for how long?
I feel that a gritty human film about a character’s struggle can tell you more about a situation than any political or activist film. This should be a simple, real story of a human being trying to go forward in a tough modern life, against all odds.
“It is in God’s nature to terrify us in order to lead us to safety.” - Rumi
Baboudjian started his career working both creatively and managerially in the media industry (advertising, television and films). He developed a rich international experience producing short films and documentary projects in various countries in the Mediterranean area. Among others, he produced the award winning Here Comes the Rain (Black Pearl Award at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival), and supported two of the most successful recent documentaries in the Arab world: Grandma, a Thousand Times (2010) and A World Not Ours (2012).
Tharwa Productions is a boutique company with services dedicated to support film productions, television commercials, corporate films and documentaries. The company’s edge is a strong artistic sense merged with an intimate knowledge of the culture and people of the region.