Seattle Shorts Film Festival - Last Night In Edinburgh
When two teen sisters discover that their family holiday abroad is really a plan by their parents to deliver them both into forced marriages, the girls flee home to find their own ways of remaining in Edinburgh, testing the limits of their bond and the resolve of the adults who control their futures.
Interview with Director Bita Shafipour
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you. I chose to make this film because I have always cared very much about women’s rights in the world. I was very moved and shocked by the high numbers of forced marriages in the UK and across the Western World and hearing the stories of the women and the NGOs that support them made a very strong impact on me. I wanted to put myself in the position of the two girls who were born and raised in Scotland and are suddenly detached from their home and taken abroad to be married off to men they have never met.
As an immigrant, I know what it’s like to have an identity crisis when you move to a new country by choice; being forced to move to a completely different culture is a violent upheaval of an altogether different order. That said, I also wanted to put myself in the girls' parents’ place and understand where they come from, and how they don’t know any better. They were the victims of forced marriages themselves because their parents didn’t know any better, and they think this is the right thing to do, because they don’t want their girls to have the hard life they had as struggling immigrants in the West. So they wish for them to marry more well-off people in their native country who share their cultural ethos and can provide the best life for them.
I also strongly believe that until we abolish child and forced marriages globally, we will never be able to have gender equality anywhere in the world. It’s like trying to have racial equality where we still have slavery in millions of households in every single country in the world. I chose to do my part in tackling forced marriage with my narrative film.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The film is a well-rounded coming of age drama that takes the audience on a journey with a great deal of emotional ups and downs, and anyone who is up for a drama with dynamic characters will enjoy the film. Furthermore, because the theme of the film is about women and children’s rights we can all learn something new about the plight of women globally including in “advanced" countries such as the UK, and participate in abolishing forced and child marriages in order to have gender equality one day.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The personal themes are about growing up and getting along with our parents during the sensitive adolescent years. And these differences are often more extreme when our parents are immigrants who have not had the chance to assimilate into the new culture. These children often live dual lives, where at home they practice their parents’ native culture and in public, they participate in their regional culture. The personal themes can easily reflect the universal themes of globalization, sense of identity, alienation and belonging.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
My co-writer Chris Boyd and I had a very clear idea of the kind of film we wanted to make from the beginning. We debated over the length of the short since most festivals like short movies that are under 15 minutes long, but I had made a short film of that length before and wanted to challenge myself as a director to make something longer with more actors, locations and dramatic twists, so I chose to make a 20 minute film. Our short ended up being 24 minutes since my style is a little slower than average.
We then cut some scenes out to make it shorter. In the edit room, we realized we could tell the story without those scenes, something you always learn in the edit room when you can see the film rather than reading it on the page. We then trimmed the scenes to make them more impactful. I absolutely love this stage of editing when you’re getting into the details of each scene.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
People like the dramatic arc of the film and the twist at the end a lot. Some absolutely hate the parents, especially the mother, and find her to be a very cliched traditional woman until she surprises them at the end. They like the two girls’ performances and find Edinburgh to be a absolutely gorgeous city, thanks to our DP Alan McLaughlin. Most people like Ram Khatabakhsh's music, and some find it a bit too much, depending on their artistic preferences.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I have to say, I was surprised when Americans had a hard time understanding Scottish accents. For the most part I get the kind of feedback I expect. There have been people who find the subject of forced marriage a bit redundant because they see films on this subject more often in their own world but not everyone comes from a culture that practices forced and child marriages, and this film is for those who have no clue about this kind of domestic violence. A lot of people ask about the origins of this family. I intentionally wanted to keep their heritage vague since so many cultures practice forced marriage and it is very unfair to point fingers to one particular country.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Any filmmaker’s dream is to have her film seen by as many people as possible. So, I’m very grateful to have my film on a platform that facilitates that. I also know that people come to this website for films that can be engaging and give them something to think about, or even better, inspire them to learn more about the issue presented.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I can say all of the above, especially journalists, festival directors and distributors to help promote the film on various other platforms.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Firstly, I want the film to engage the audience and take them on a dramatic journey for 21 minutes, and then, I wish for the viewer to take a moment to think about what’s happening to millions of women everyday across the world and realize that we will not have gender equality anywhere in the world as long as women and children are forced into marriage against their will. I also wish to make this clear that this movie is NOT about ‘arranged marriages’. Arranged marriages are consensual and perfectly legal, but forced and child marriages are a violation of human rights.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I’d love for people across the world to accept that forced-marriage issues are not ‘the Other’s’ issue and as a society we must take them very seriously in order to attain gender equality. More often than not, women and children are forced into marriages for financial reasons, and this is a direct reflection of the economic struggles these families have. So the question is, how can I make an impact in abolishing forced marriages? How can education and women's empowerment play a role here? How can we tackle this issue without pointing fingers and blaming some cultures for doing it more than others?
Would you like to add anything else?
GirlsNotBrides.org is a fantastic website for more information on child marriage.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Chris and I are developing our first feature.
Interview: November 2016
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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LAST NIGHT IN EDINBURGH
When two teen sisters discover that their family holiday abroad is really a plan by their parents to deliver them both into forced marriages, the girls flee home to find their own ways of remaining in Edinburgh, testing the limits of their bond and the resolve of the adults who control their futures.
Length: 21 Mins
Director: Bita Shafipour
Producer: Bita Shafipour and Chris Boyd
Writer: Bita Shafipour and Chris Boyd
About the writer, director and producer:
Bita Shafipour was born in Iran and studied cinematic arts at USC. She is an award-winning writer, director, producer and educator based in LA.
Chris Boyd is an award-winning screenwriter and producer from San Diego, whose work includes feature documentary films and studio writing assignments.
Key cast: Hiftu Quasem, Hannah Ord, Maryam Hamidi, Amir Rahimzadeh, Ikram Gilani
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Yes, all.
Funders: SOCIARTS PRODUCTIONS LLC
Made in association with: Seventh Crow
Release date: March 2015 BAFTA
Where will it screen in the next month? Seattle Short Film Festival