South Asian Film Festival / Mumbai Shorts Film Festival 2019 – Proof
An immigration officer is asking a young Pakistani woman to present “material proof” that she is entering the marriage with a US citizen “in good faith.” What she considers the most important proof would make her family either kill her or have her killed. Proof is a film about a young couple that celebrates their love and their individual and shared struggles, in a world where immigration becomes an increasingly polarized and polarizing societal issue.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Nora Jaenicke
Watch Proof here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The idea behind Proof is based on a personal experience. Obtaining my American Green card wasn't easy. As a matter of fact, it was quite the tortuous process which felt very invasive on top of prohibiting me from traveling back home for over three years. The story is, in part, biographical. To enhance the emotional as well as the physical stakes that the protagonists go through, I decided to change the main character's background. By having Iman be Pakistani and trying to enter the US during the Muslim travel ban, allowed me to explore the issue from a more dramatic lense, while also commenting on a current political situation that affected many, including some of my friends. By having the audience go through the immigration interview with Iman, I wanted the viewer to step into her shoes and feel what she feels. On one hand, she is being questioned because of her ethnicity and cultural background, on the other hand, she has to keep the secret of her pregnancy which is deeply tied to her cultural upbringing and how it clashes with her "new life" in the USA. Once again, watching films like these can help us stretch our empathy, understand and see the world from a new perspective.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I think that it sheds light onto one of the most pressing questions of our times. What does home mean? Where is home? How can we co-exist in spite of the completely different backgrounds and clashing cultures that define our identity? Is it possible to reinvent ourselves in a "new world" in spite of what we have left behind? What are the obstacles and what's at stake? All of this is such rich material to draw from to tell a very timely story.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The obstacles that prohibit so many of us to be close to their loved ones are dictated by politics. The theme of wanting them close is therefor both, personal and universal, especially for the times that we live in now. It is a complicated topic and I understand that there are no easy answers. By telling this story, I am simply trying to ask questions and have my audience think about the perspective of everyone involved. In a feature version of this short, it would have been interesting to step into the Immigration Officer's perspective as well, and wonder about his life and background. What does he do when he goes home? Does he have kids to support? How does he feel about his job and interviewing these people on a daily basis? How many dreams get crushed at the border on a daily basis? How does he separate his responsibility at work from his personal experience? I think that this short has enough drama and tension-packed into it to become a feature. And the story can be told from different angles. It's just a matter of choosing which one.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Initially, I had an idea of a couple having to prove their love in front of an immigration officer in order to simply stay together. I wanted them to be in love, and I pictured them being a bit naive about it: Too young to understand the responsibilities and commitment that a marriage implies, but also too impatient to wait - too eager to be together. So I had pictured the couple not being "prepared enough" for this very harsh immigration interview, where the Proof that they are being asked to provide is in stark contrast with the lightness of their feelings and the so-called "honeymoon phase" that they are still in.
I pictured them being film students who are dreaming of rebuilding their life together in America - the so-called "Land of opportunities." I then realized that the story needed something else to work on a deeper level. What if there was a so-called "subplot", a secret that Iman is dealing with, while being interviewed and that, if revealed, would threaten her life on top of forcing her to choose between her "Old self" and her "New life" with Evan in America.
Many of us immigrants live between these two worlds. There is the new life that we embraced the moment that we chose to uproot our existence and moved to a different continent, and then there is our old world. The one that ties us to our family and native culture/language. I realized that, while telling a story on immigration, it would have been a shame to leave this inner conflict out and somehow find a way to link it to an actual physical conflict that's visible on the screen and not just an internalized struggle that so many of us are familiar with. So the question popped up...
What if Evan proposed because there was an event that forced him to? What if Iman getting pregnant before getting married could cause her to be banned from her family? What if she had to choose between her old world and her life with Evan in America? And how could I pack all these elements together into a 10 minute short? I like it when, as the plot unfolds, a story ends up revealing more unexpected details to it. So this is how the script evolved from a simple idea of simply juxtaposing the lightness of a love story with a harsh immigration interview. It morphed into something much more complex.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
So far the feedback has been very touching. Many people came up to me after watching the short at a Festival and shared their own struggles when it comes to immigrating to the US. love it when stories allow for this moment of connection over a shared experience.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
It wasn't a surprise that there are many people out there who have dealt with a similar issue, especially in a city like New York.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I would love to meet interesting Producers and collaborators in general. Let's tell more stories together! Let's make more films! Proof could be a feature. I have ideas...
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
All of it :)
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would like for it to screen as many many festivals all over the planet.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How can people from such different cultural backgrounds co-exist in the world that we live in today and what does "home" mean?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am currently working on my first feature film. We are in the last stages of financing. I am lucky to have a strong team of dedicated producers.
Interview: December 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. 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
Proof
An immigration officer is asking a young Pakistani woman to present “material proof” that she is entering the marriage with a US citizen “in good faith.” What she considers the most important proof would make her family either kill her or have her killed. Proof is a film about a young couple that celebrates their love and their individual and shared struggles, in a world where immigration becomes an increasingly polarized and polarizing societal issue.
Length: 11:00
Director: Nora Jaenicke
Producer: Darren Cole, Sonny Chatrath, Richard Stein, Adi Katz, Judy Toma
Writer: Nora Jaenicke
About the writer, director and producer:
NORA JAENICKE is an award-winning filmmaker currently residing between Cambridge and New York City. She grew up in Italy with German parents and studied at the European Institute of Design in Rome, the Vancouver Film School and Harvard University. Her feature-length screenplay Whales was selected to be a part of the Kitzbuehl Writing Residency in August 2017 and was a semi-finalist at the Oscar Qualifying Nashville Film Festival. Her first feature film is slated for production in May 2020. She has made several short films that won multiple awards at prestigious festivals all over the world. When she is not busy exploring the world, writing or making films, she runs a screenwriting retreat in the heart of Tuscany and a Film Festival on the Italian island of Elba.
Key cast: Preeti Gupta, Jacopo Rampini, Robert L. Wilson
Facebook: Nora Jaenicke
Instagram: @norasitatata
Website: augohr.de/catalogue/proof
Funders: Darren Cole, Sonny Chatrath, Richard Stein, Adi Katz, Judy Toma