14
LOOK BABA I’M HAPPY
A film by Nish Gera
26 MIN - COLOUR - 2.35 - DOLBY SRD 5.1 - 2018
Synopsis:
Baba is dead. Gulzar and Baba had not seen each other in eleven years. After moving to Germany when the war in Afghanistan started, Baba’s life spiralled down and their family broke up. Now, Gulzar returns to Berlin to reckon with his father’s belongings. He must also reckon with all that is left unsaid between them, with what happened in their homeland Afghanistan and, perhaps, with forgiveness.
Isn’t human history a history of displacement? And of violence. Homes, lives, entire countries destroyed. For ideas we hold sacred. Ideas of what is - what ought to be - all powerful. Ideas that drive men to madness. To war. To more displacement.I grew up with stories of displacement and violence. In fact, isn’t it hard to have grown up without stories of displacement, no matter where in the world you grow up? (Unless you grow up without stories, which is it’s own kind of violence).
Director’s Note
Am I forgiven? Have I forgiven? The ghosts of these questions haunt us. We believe and we forget. We live and we hide from these ghosts. But they come back, unbidden. I have been fascinated by displacement. And touched by it. Both as an idea and a lived reality. Like millions of people on this planet. As it has been for countless generations. As it is for me.
What happens when you see your country die? What does that do to you? This is the story of two men, a father and a son who saw their country collapse before them. When Gulzar’s Baba was young, he saw his country at the centre of the hippie route, a land of lush valleys and a lyrical tongue. But we don’t see him young.
Our story begins when Baba is dead. Baba, who saw more death and destruction than a man ever should. Baba, who did not talk to anyone about it. Baba, who was supposed to make a new life in Germany, which had kindly given him asylum after American bombs had destroyed his country in search of the axis of evil.
Gulzar, Baba’s only child, who had moved with him. Gulzar, who also saw death but the protective psychic defence mechanisms blurred and painted over a lot of those memories. Gulzar, who is gay, who held this secret within him like a second beating heart. Gulzar, who couldn’t hold this extra beating heart inside him and when Baba found out, it was over between them.
Gulzar and Baba, who haven’t seen each other for eleven years. Gulzar and Baba, now separated by that thin, but completely opaque, curtain that separates the living from the dead. Gulzar and Baba, who will make a last ditch effort at meeting each other through that curtain. Gulzar and Baba, who will make a last ditch effort at forgiveness.
Written and Directed by Director of Photography Producer Producers
Executive Producer Production DesQigner Editor First Assistant Director Second Assistant Director
Music
Sound R ecordists
Sound Designer Sound Mixer Costume Designer Hair and Make-Up Artist Supporting Cast
Nish GeraPeter GarajszkiSalli MartinNish GeraDarkBright FilmFilippo D’AntoniShay Tova Govhary SaldisLorenzo PetracchiFederico PeduzziSergio ProtoSam SpiersQais EssarSubhiMassimiliano BonomoSavvas KontouGiulio RasiFabio CuccuelliGiacomo RendeJessica SchottNastasya TikhnovetskayaDavide PigazziTom ClaerhoutRobert Jeremy ButlerMirko SchoterPeter Verbrugghe
CREW
Script Supervisor Props First Assistants Camera
Grip Gaffer Best Boy Lighting Assistants
Production Assistant Set Runners
Production Design Assistants
Graphic Design Behind the Scenes Still Photography
Bianca PickGrace SnellockBrian Pertti PutkkuriJens SchiweckDiego Garcia GordoMichel KlaresGregor CunninghamDiego Garcia GordoMike KochFinnegan WagnerChristoph NeuhausKhaled RezekKevin RuhlandYigid KaracaAlina PodschunValentin TöpferMüge ÖnerNatascha HaßAngelo GunkelLara DreyerHannah SiegfriedJacob BauerBesher AlyoussefGiulio RasiPeter VerbruggheYigid Karaca
Gulzar Aziz DyabJagger Gesi GesterkampKarli Laura Sophia BeckerAthena Nora JensenBaba Nish GeraMorgue Officer Natascha VincenzaDealer David Bons
CAST
Composer: Sam Spiers “Planes and Dust”“Body Memories”
“Opening Channels”
Composer: Massimiliano Bonomo “Ulfaton mein”Lyrics and Vocals: Subhi
Composer: Qais Essar “Baba”
MUSIC
Festival Distribution:
Salli Martin
NishGera
www.lookbabafilm.com
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