Iraq, Switzerland, Arabic - 100 min
Feature Narrative
TOTAL BUDGET
€1,650,306
CONFIRMED FINANCING
€218,848
CONTACT
sophia@dvfilm.ch
+41 (0)44 456 30 41
The blind ferryman Ayoub lives in the Iraqi marshes. One day, he meets a mysterious woman and falls for her. But, nobody believes that she exists. When everyone turns away from him, he carries out a fatal act in desperation.
The blind ferryman Ayoub lives with his mother and his religious brother in the Iraqi marshes. He knows how to find his way around despite his lack of eyesight. He earns his money by driving people around the marshes. People like to ride with him because Ayoub sings when he steers his boat through the reed fields. In the evenings, he meets with his friends. They often enjoy drinks together and talk about the mysteries of life until late into the night. On one of these evenings, when they have been drinking quite a lot, they are attacked by a group of religious radicals for consuming alcohol. The friends jump into their boats and make their escape into the darkness of the night. For the very first time in his life, Ayoub is lost. He meets a mysterious woman who disrupts his very existence. Captivated by her, his life revolves more and more around the secret encounters in the thicket of the reed fields. Whenever he tells his friends about these encounters, they shake their heads. Nobody believes him and rumors start to spread about him losing his mind. People no longer want to ride with him. Even his friends are distancing themselves. Thus, Ayoub's self-doubt grows until he no longer knows what is real and what is imaginary. He finally decides to kill the mysterious woman to prove to those around him that he has not fallen into madness. But is it possible to kill what one believes in?
The crux of The Blind Ferryman is the creative implementation of the "inside view" of the blind protagonist. The difficult process of capturing the thoughts of a protagonist is enhanced by the additional challenge that our main character begins to blur reality and imagination. I consider the deviation from classic storytelling a creative challenge since the narrative force in this film can only be achieved through a subjective glance at its characters and their personalities. It requires careful observation through extraordinary pictures of the people in the archaic marshes landscape. Even if many scenes are characterized by a documentary observation of the actions, perception will be heightened by creating a certain rhythm so the film can be transferred into the genre of the fable.
When Ali introduced me to the idea of dedicating his first feature film to the story of a blind ferryman in the form of a fable, I was fascinated. When I found out that he plans on accounting for the recent history of Iraq and critically discussing Iraq’s society, I offered to support his project as a producer. Having lived in the diaspora for most of my life, I was hooked on the contrast of establishing an imaginative fable in conflict-ridden Iraq as a utopian world and then dismantling it step by step. The motif of the beautiful Genya that plunges those wandering in the marshes into ruin is a topic that occurs in most swamp areas and serves as a model for many mythologies around the world. The film thus has the potential of telling a universal, familiar story with a background that has not been seen on the screen too often.
2021: The Blind Ferryman
2021: Ils Giacomettis
2019: Baghdad in My Shadow
2018: Chris the Swiss
2017: Go Home
2016: Offshore - Elmer und das Bankgeheimnis
2014: Dora oder die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern
2014: Dawn
2014: Iraqi Odyssey
2013: Mon père, la révolution et moi
2013: Die Libelle und das Nashorn
2012: Operation Libertad
2012: Once I Entered a Garden
2010: Escher, der engel und die Fibonacci-zahlen
2009: Räuberinnen
2007: Die Chronomanen
2006: Das Fräulein
2006: Nachbeben
2005: White Terror
2005: Snow White
2004: Die letzte Mauer
2004: Strählv
2004: Muridi - aus zürich
2003: Tarifa Traffic - Tod in Gibraltar
2003: ZwischenSprach
2002: Forget Baghdad
2002: Aline
2000: Summertime
2000: Norman Plays Golf
1998: Projecziuns tibetanas
1997: La eta Knabino
1997: Angélique
1996: Take off from the Sand
1996: Miel et cendres
1993: Babylon 2
1992: (It Was) Just a Job
1992: Pickelporno
1991: Immer & Ewig
1991: HipHop
1989: Daedalus
1989: Dynamit am Simplon
1988: Filou
1987: Morlove - Eine ode für heisenberg
1984: Stummfilm
1984: Schiefkörper