In a fishing town called Toubab Dialaw in Senegal, each young girl who turns 25 has to present a handmade gift to their mothers.
Director: Enis Manaz
Producer: Evrim inci
Director of Photography: Cihangir Öztürk, Mert Hüroğlu
Starring: Melisa Taylan | Beyhan Türkkollu | Şakir Doğuluer | Dan Lacey
Read our interview with the filmmaker
Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I was born in Ankara / Turkey on October 26th, 1986. I made first short film at high school in 2002. I graduated from International Relations. I made four short films and two documentaries until today. I am a creative director and filmmaker based in İzmir, Turkey. I like to create original and different stories through powerful cinematography.
What was your inspiration behind Le Périple d'Abélla?
One of the biggest side effects of the pandemic was the time that it gave us to think about ourselves and our world more than ever before. Yes, at first like everyone else my friends and I also felt imprisoned but on the other hand, we appreciated that and used it as an opportunity to raise our voice. Besides the reconfiguration of the world, the most important motivation for us to produce “Le Périple d’Abélla” was racism which is rising non-stop nowadays.
Any hacks or tips for making a film while social distancing?
Run and gun filmmaking became very helpful in social distancing process. We used Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4k (two 500gb ssd for raw footages) and Leica R lenses. We had two portable led lights and used an image stabilizer in some scenes. Since we have a storyboard, we tried to shoot the scenes as fast as possible. BMPCC 4K gave us a lot of flexibility in this sense
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences.
During the pandemic, I was collecting some of the news from social media and newspapers to find a starting point and in the end, I used three of them to create a story. Afterward, the story became an actual script by my talented scriptwriter friend, Feyza, and that was how the journey of Abella started. In a very short period of time, my friends and I worked really hard and made the journey of Abella real. Eventually, the result was way more satisfying for us than we all expected. I hope the audience will also like it and hopefully, we can make them think just once more.”
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Seven Samurai, Groundhog Day, Interstate 60, Jurassic Park, Seven, Stalker, Cidade de Deus, North by Northwest, Bicycle Thieves
Interested in getting your work selected as Short of the Week?