Jacob Pilgaard reflects on a serious social issue in the plight of a girl scheduled to be sent back to war-torn Syria in the short ‘The Deportation Of A Model Citizen’.
Film And TV Now spoke with the film-maker about the short.
This is an intense tale of somebody facing uncertainty. What was the start off and inspiration for the film?
I have always been drawn by real-life events. I think most of my work is based on or inspired by true events or real people. It’s just a fascinating, life you know. I had been trying for some time to secure financing for another short, also about a Syrian refugee. Though a quite different story. But it fell through.
And then in the summer of 2021, I read about this young girl, Aya, living quite close to my city. Earlier that year the Danish authorities had decided that she was going to get deported back to Syria, despite the ongoing war and even though she was about to graduate from college and go on to become a nurse.
So finally, 4-5 months later, and only after a LOT of publicity and media coverage and help from her principal, the decision was reversed, and she got to stay. And the story just instantly resonated in me on a very deep level. So many months of uncertainty. The meaninglessness of graduating. Having to say goodbye to her family and friends.
I knew right away that we couldn’t tell the full story. That would be a feature film. I am rather fond of the “What if?” principle so I started thinking about what one would do if one had to go home? What would you do on that final day and those final hours before going to the airport?
I thought that would be a great setting for a shot at the same time giving me the opportunity to focus on my primary interest; the relationship between two people meeting at a difficult time in their lives and how they help each other. After that, I spend a few months researching and after a rather short prep, we shot the film just before Christmas in 2021.
The line between illegal immigration and genuine escape from oppression is much thinner today. What is the local perspective on immigration overall?
It is truly bizarre. I don’t even know where to start. I accept the fact that we can’t save every refugee in the world, obviously. And some are not really refugees, they just want to take advantage of our very, VERY generous welfare system.
But the rules are just so arbitrary. Just this morning I saw an interview with a small family from Ukraine, and they had just been informed that they had to leave Denmark because they had fled from the war in Ukraine too early. And we’re not talking years or months. But 5 days. 5 DAYS.
So, because they kind of had a feeling that Putin would invade, they decided to leave before it was too late and now, they must go home because we don’t consider them to be refugees. I guess they should have waited 5 days… I mean, come on, that’s just silly. And unjust. And meaningless.
Another example is the fact that we often send girls and women home because they are not protected by certain conventions. The men are protected because if they have fled from the army or have avoided getting drafted, they will face certain prison or be shot.
This has led to bizarre cases with families with 2-3 sons and a daughter, and then only the daughter gets deported.
The picture is blurred though because we do have a growing problem with gang crimes committed by immigrants or descendants of refugees. The gang violence has gotten out of control these past years with people getting shot in the street at broad daylight so naturally, a lot of Danes are starting to vote on politicians intending to do something about the violence. And then we get these arbitrary laws that punish young people like Aya.
Tell us about your cast.
I love casting. At this point making shorts we can’t really afford a caster, so I tend to do most of it myself.
To me, it all comes down to instinct and pure gut feeling. The lead actress, Thalita, had almost no experience working on a film. She had done some theatre and a bit of extra work. I think she was 18 when I first met her, so she had no real training as an actor either. But I just knew she could pull it off.
It’s difficult to explain really. I mean, I knew. I think I felt at ease because she instinctively understood the story and the feeling I was going for. And despite her young age, she showed up on set extremely prepared. I mean, she was ready to go to work.
I knew some of the other actors already; Cecilie Bach is becoming a regular actress in my films. She’s a true star in the making. Mads Hjulmand I knew from a feature I was the 1AD on (where he played a truly evil Nazi!).
Joey Moe is a very well-known musician in Denmark, and I believe he had done only one short film, that I happened to see, and I just knew immediately that I had to work with him. He’s such a force of nature and something magic just happens when he is in front of the camera. Søren Vejby and Tine Gotthelf completed the line-up and I think everyone did a great job helping my vision come to life.
Besides being talented I guess the people I cast also are, well, very nice and decent people. To me, it comes down to trust. They must trust me, and I have to trust them, and I just refuse to work with divas and people who behave badly.
Tell us about your production team.
Well, since there’s obviously a very low budget for this kind of short film, I must rely on people who will help make the film because of the story and not for getting paid. Luckily in Denmark, we have a very strong community of very talented filmmakers that help each other out making these shorts. I still do 1AD work for free on short films to give something back, so to speak to younger talents and frankly I just enjoy it.
In this case, I had a new DP, Kristian Arbs, and I can’t praise him enough. He’s fun, easygoing, and incredibly talented. I think working with the DP is such an important part of the process and it can really ruin the film if that collaboration doesn’t work. But I think we rather quickly understood each other, and I would love to do a feature with him someday.
The same goes for all of them really. So many skilled and fun people really doing their best (despite shooting on a beach in the winter freezing at zero degrees).
Where did you shoot and for how long?
We shot at the end of December 2021 in Copenhagen, and I think we had 4 days for a 15 pages script. On a budget of approximately 12.000 US dollars.
How much research did you do before writing the script and what were the surprising things you learned along the way?
I tend to do a lot of research. Like for months and months. At the end of the research, the script writes itself you know. In this case, I first reached out to Aya, and she was very generous in reading the script and giving notes.
She also met with Thalita to give her some insight into her thoughts in the months of uncertainty. The real principal, Henrik, also provided some information. I talked to a prison guard who used to drive people like Aya to the airport and he really gave me most of the inspiration for the two policemen, Lasse, and Marcel. And then there were all the other previous stories about refugees being deported, so in the end, I had plenty of material to start writing.
The most surprising fact was as previously mentioned that we in fact separate entire families and deport only the women. And if for some reason we are not actually able to deport them, they are being put in camps, where they must stay more or less indefinitely unless they go back voluntarily. I just don’t get it.
Would you like to expand on the issues and themes explored in this short into a feature idea?
Yes, very much, in fact, I am in the early stages of outlining a feature film also about a Syrian refugee inspired by a true story from Germany. It would be a very dark film though playing out in real-time. I just need someone to finance it.
You graduated as a screenwriter from the Danish Film School 18Frames in 2015. What were the key challenges in finding the right stories to tell cinematically after you graduated?
You know, before turning to screenwriter I had written a lot of short stories and a novel, so I really had to learn to depend less on dialogue in this transition and sometimes I still struggle with it. Really, I just went for it and jumped in the deep end of the pool so to speak. Truth be told, I had no idea what I was doing in my first film. It was pure 90% happy-go-lucky and 10 % instinct.
Then I learned whatever I could from that process and moved on to the next film and so on. I think my actual Film School has been in the editing room with Steen, my trusted editor of all my films. We have spent countless hours watching the shots, talking about what works, and what doesn’t work. And why it doesn’t work. So now we’re at a 10 % happy-go-lucky and 90 % instinct ratio haha.
I have learned a lot while also freelancing on so many films when not working on my own projects. I mean, it really is a blessing to watch some of these guys’ work. I have done 3 movies for Bille August now and I have learned a lot just observing him, especially how he deals with the actors. I think I have done almost 20 features by now in the AD department, so I am quite ready to make my debut film.
As for choosing my stories – it has never really been an issue. I am very curious and open to the stories I come across. The biggest problem might be what to do next.
Scandinavian film and TV have evolved so much over the years and talents like Noomi Rapace and Alicia Vikander are helping to evolve the craft of the local industry. What are your hopes for the future of Danish Cinema?
That we will continue to do films that also resonate with an audience outside Denmark.
Have politicians and support groups seen the film and what is being done to highlight the plight of people in the same plight as Aida in the film?
This is very complex. The film is only a few months old, so there’s still a lot of work ahead of us to get certain people aware of it.
We got a bit blindsided this fall because suddenly there was an election for our government. And then the Danish media just goes into a total frenzy leaving no room for other stories. And most recently the World Cup in Qatar has dominated our networks. Come January, I think it is a better time to promote the film.
Who and what are your key cinematic influences?
This may sound schizophrenic, but I must go with David Fincher and Terry Malick.
I am so in awe of Fincher’s ability to control just about everything in the frame. I teach screenwriting at our local University, and I repeatedly use examples from his films. I really strive to achieve this level of control myself because I know by now that it will bring me the best performances from my actors because then I can just focus on them. It’s a bit difficult to explain. It just…works for me. I need that sense of calm.
But at the same time, I will be forever drawn to Terry’s style. How he moves his camera. How he improvises so much. Shooting hours and hours of footage and then creating the film in the editing room. The Thin Red Line and Tree of Life are some of my all-time favourite films and I am completely devastated each time I watch them. By God, the emotions Terry can create. To me, that is pure cinema magic.
But I am so afraid of moving my camera so I guess I will be forever torn between the control the Fincher way gives me and the raw expression Terry goes for.
How has the festival circuit helped your film?
Not much, yet. We are still very early in the festival circuit with most of the festivals we are aiming for not taking place until 2023. We have got some really rave 5-star reviews already though from some film sites, so we’re off to a good start!
Finally, what are you most proud of about this short?
The shot of Aida and Eva saying goodbye outside the house. Everything just fell into place. The clear weather. The backlight from the sun. How they were able to convey their emotions and feelings for each other without dialogue.
Just a moment in time between two human beings. A shot like that is why I make films, I guess. Being able to capture such an image with such emotion and doing it together with people I really care about. It’s just a perfect life for me.
