The Silence Of The Shepherd
Filmfest 2015
OT: SAMT AL RAI
Iraq 2014
Original version with English subtitles
(Original: Arabic)
German Premiere
Director: Raad Mushatat
Section: International Independents
Thirteen year old Zahra lives in a village on the edge of the desert in the south of Iraq. She leaves home to fetch some water from the small river nearby. She never comes back. With no trace of Zahra, the collective imagination of the village community creates its own tale of her disappearance; a tale that belongs to the world of the forbidden. The disappearance of Zahra abruptly and dramatically shakes the moral order of the village. The social fabric and traditions of the society come into conflict with themselves, breeding more and greater disappearances effecting everybody’s life.
"In an autocratic society, silence is a main feature of life. It becomes the one sanctuary individuals take refuge in, to evade the evils of tyranny and it's cruel and degrading. Silence's first victim is truth, and when truth is buried, the social being of any society loses its own essence of coherence, that is its own realization of truth."
Raad Mushatat
Cast: Mahmood Abo Alabbas, Alaa Najim, Shaima Khaleel, Samer Qahtan, Nahar Sadayo
Credits
Screenplay: Raad Mushatat
Director of Photography: Ziad Turkey
Film Editor: Mahmoud Mushatat
Composer: Duraid Fadhel
Production Designer: Tamara Noori
Costume Design: Ali Dakhel
Sound: Khalid Bin Younis
Producer: Email Aljebory
Production Company: Cinema and Theatre Company
Director: Raad Mushatat