Story & Inspirations

DIRECTORS STATEMENT

The inspiration for this film came from my interest in The Divine Comedy, a 14th century epic poem. It intrigued my interests in the philosophy of life and death, and the nature of morality in the world we live in. The intention of the project was to bring about the awareness of a real-world “Hell” that we all live in currently, where war, political scandal, racial tension and the future of humanity is a constant conversation and battle.

I wanted to portray a central character who ventures through a sort of fictional “Purgatory” with real-world characters, that test the characters faith in a good God.

The dark themes and subject matter of the film are emphasised through the use of music from UK band October Grey, with their debut tracks "Incantations" & "Midnight Dreary". This dark, gothic rock band is one of my personal favourites and good friends of mine, who I hope will benefit from the use of the tracks in the film as well.

The central question of the project is to examine the difference between good and evil actions, and how “sinful” human characteristics (pride, envy, etc.) have dominated our own personal beliefs in what we deem as truly good or truly evil within our society. The film questions the good nature of a higher power that many of us turn to when things go astray, and how we often rely on the supposed goodness of someone/something watching over us in order for us to achieve a fulfilling life, or in the case of the protagonist, to get to Paradise.

The character is placed into an underworld, devoid of any real virtue with only her faith to keep her going, but as she ventures through, the reality of her situation becomes clear that it’s not at all what she expected. And in a sense, that is the message I intend to portray, is that life is a slap in the face often, and sometimes the light may not be all as bright as we deem it to be.

Overall, what I would like the audience to take away from the film is to question their own moral nature and beliefs. The audience can decide for themselves if the protagonist truly deserved what happened to her, or if it was all just a grand plan for something bigger than herself.

Essentially, my statement to whoever watches the film is that it’s not meant to glorify the nature of evil, but rather make the audience realise that evil is necessary in order to understand and know how to do good, as terrible as it may be. I’m not one for happy endings, but I believe that the audience can take away what they will from the film and decide if a happy ending is really necessary, given the subject matter.

I hope that it can spark that light at the back of everyone's minds when we find ourselves in terrible situations in life that are out of our control, and to realise that sometimes, we must suffer in order to truly live.

DIRECTORS BIOGRAPHY

My name is Seyedah Zainab Hoseini-Baghsangani, but I go by Zainab Hoseini. I’m a 21-year-old Final Year student majoring in Directing and Writing at AFDA Cape Town.

Although I’m a South-African born citizen, my heart also belongs to the various regions of the Middle East that I grew up in, namely Palestine, Israel and Doha. I grew up mostly with my mother and step-father, who were both journalists of various prominent TV networks for a long time, which sparked my interest in both feature film and documentary film-making from a young age.

The cultural background from my Iranian-born father also introduced me to Persian cinema and offered a new and unique perspective when I had further grown my interest in film.

Upon returning back to South Africa since 2013, I have expressed my creative outlets through my love and passion for music through live show recordings and photography, as well as participated in a few film competitions, created my own shorts, worked for various production companies and participated on many sets mostly in Johannesburg.

Since joining AFDA Cape Town, I have been able to further my interest in the industry. I had originally intended to major in Editing when I started, but rather decided to major in Directing and Writing to further my writing attributes and skills and to gain better understanding into the direction of motion pictures.

My plans for the next leg of my journey is to gain more prominent attention to the local music and cultural scene in South Africa through motion picture and film as I believe it truly has something special and unique to offer the world.