Malika Musayeva was born in Grozny, Chechen Republic. During the Second Chehen War in 1999, she fled the Chechen Republic. During her research at Russia’s Kabardino-Balkarian State University she directed a number of brief movies which have been introduced at numerous worldwide movie festivals. She later obtained a diploma in Directing on the Hamburg Media School in Germany. In Hamburg, she directed two brief movies. “The Cage is Looking for a Bird” marks her function debut. She presently resides and works in Germany.
“The Cage Is Looking for a Bird” is screening on the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, which runs from February 16-26.
W&H: Describe the movie for us in your individual phrases.
MM: “The Cage Is Looking for a Bird” is a coming-of-age story of a younger Chechen woman known as Yakha who lives in a small Chechen village. She witnesses the patriarchal world the place the fates of her sister, mom, and feminine pal unravel. Yakha decides to cease this vicious circle.
It is a story of turning into conscious of her actual self, of the world round her. She makes an attempt to combat for the appropriate to resolve on methods to reside her personal life.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
MM: There was no particular event or second that led to the creation of this movie. It was reasonably a lengthy, cumulative strategy of witnessing the fates of people who find themselves vital to me — for instance, my associates and sisters. It is a sort of compilation of Chechen girls’s fates which have been amassed in my reminiscence. And when it grew to become potential, I made my debut movie on that topic.
I’ve all the time cared concerning the place of Chechen girls. I do know concerning the state of affairs and place of ladies in my homeland. It is a particular area the place you don’t discuss your self and your issues. It is vital to me that we discuss for ourselves.
W&H: What would you like individuals to consider after they watch the movie?
MM: I hope that the screening of the movie on the Berlin Film Festival will deliver hope to Chechen ladies. Even if that hope is a drop within the ocean. I want to want Chechen girls to not lose their dream, and to place confidence in themselves. Being born as a Chechen is not a verdict. And there is additionally the hope that after watching this movie, society will take discover of the ladies’s downside in Chechnya. And, as [Russian director] Alexander Sokurov [who taught me at Kabardino-Balkarian State University] used to say, “to soften temperament.”
W&H: What was the largest problem in making the movie?
MM: The incontrovertible fact that it was potential to make this movie is a actual surprise. In Chechnya, function movies have by no means been made, and other people have no idea what it is. In addition, the Chechen society is intimidated and lives in fixed concern. That is a consequence of the 2 harmful wars and the political regime wherein individuals reside now. First of all, it was tough to search out individuals who would conform to make a movie. The issue was additionally that I didn’t perceive the place to make this type of movie. With the producer Nikolay Yankin (the Sokurov Foundation’s Example of Intonation), we travelled virtually all around the North Caucasus. It was a exhausting and tough course of. At one level, I used to be simply discouraged, and I believed I might by no means have the ability to make this movie. Eventually, like a gentle on the finish of the tunnel, I arrived in a small village on the border with Chechnya and Ingushetia. In this village, I met some superb individuals who had dared to stroll this fashion with me.
W&H: How did you get your movie funded? Share some insights into how you bought the movie made.
MM: I made the movie with the help of the Alexander Sokurov Foundation Example of Intonation and Ilya Stewart’s Hype Studios. The authentic proposal to shoot with the assistance of the Example of Intonation Foundation got here from Alexander Sokurov, below whom I studied within the directing workshop at Kabardino- Balkarian University within the metropolis of Nalchik. Without my grasp, this movie would merely not have occurred. At all phases, probably the most tough and typically dangerous ones, Alexander Sokurov helped and supported me in all the things. I’ll by no means have the phrases to thank my grasp.
W&H: What impressed you to grow to be a filmmaker?
MM: I by no means had the dream of turning into a movie director. My dream since childhood was to grow to be a journalist. My idols was Anna Politkovskaya and Natalia Estemirova, and I dreamed of constant their work and being a human rights activist. I went into directing by likelihood – my dad and mom wouldn’t let me go to a different metropolis the place I may research journalism. Then I discovered that movie director Alexander Sokurov was coming to Nalchik and was opening a directing workshop. I used to be very unhappy that I used to be not allowed to go to check Journalism after which my mom, to make up for it one way or the other, actually took me by the hand to the college, to the doorway examination for Alexander Sokurov. Later, she regretted it as a result of I had not grow to be a excellent Chechen mom, spouse, and housewife.
W&H: What’s the very best and worst recommendation you’ve obtained?
MM: There have been many, however I can’t keep in mind any. I all the time find yourself doing what I believe is proper for me.
W&H: What recommendation do you could have for different girls administrators?
MM: I want to give the phrases that Alexander Sokurov used to inform us, “Never be afraid of anything.”
W&H: Name your favourite woman-directed movie and why.
MM: I actually love Rohrwacher’s works. My most favourite movie is “The Wonders.” Her movies for me are a actual miracle, some sort of magic. I’m additionally a large fan of Chantal Akerman’s movies. Her work is very near me – it speaks to me and forces me to look deep into myself.
W&H: What, if any, obligations do you suppose storytellers should confront the tumult on this planet, from the pandemic to the lack of abortion rights and systemic violence?
MM: Cinema is a highly effective medium for influencing and educating. It’s additionally a political instrument. Film is additionally a type of confrontation and battle, and the extra individuals within the movie trade suppose and combat for rights, the extra society has a likelihood to face up towards them. Film is additionally a type of opposition and combat.
W&H: The movie trade has a lengthy historical past of underrepresenting individuals of coloration onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — detrimental stereotypes. What actions do you suppose should be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world extra inclusive?
MM: It is crucial that this previous white man world is disadvantaged of its energy. The movie world wants extra individuals of coloration who’re actors, actresses, screenwriters, and administrators. It appears to me that sadly this variation is nonetheless very minimal, at the very least in Germany, the place I reside.
I need to see younger administrators and actors who’re individuals of coloration to have the ability to make their very own tales, reasonably than have their tales being advised by white individuals. People of coloration ought to get extra help, funding, and alternatives to inform their very own tales, not the tales the white world dictates to them. This requires that the ill-informed white male choice makers not sit in management positions.
It appears to me that change is wanted from inside, and this variation shouldn’t be a problem on the periphery of the trade, however the principle activity. Change has to return from inside.
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