Father’s Footsteps, a short film set in the Syrian civil war of 2016, and which is possibly the first Indo-Syrian collaboration in the fiction space, has been selected for a screening at the Moscow International Film Festival. A story of the ravages caused by war, the short film, directed by Mohamad Ali, is about a woman who tries to hide the truth of the father’s absence from her child by ‘acting’ the father’s role.

“The Moscow International Film Festival invited Father’s Footsteps because it is an anti-war film and they want to make a subtle statement through our film,” Tushar Tyagi, who has executive-produced the film along with Apoorva Bakshi, told The Telegraph. That is, of course, a bold as well as a contrarian statement to make from a country which is currently at war with Ukraine. “The festival organisers have been clear in saying that this is a war which is being fought by a political regime, it is not a war which is endorsed by the larger Russian population,” responded Tyagi.

“It was a big decision for us to premiere at Moscow but what persuaded us is the fact that cinema is a soft power and we wanted to help the festival to make a political statement. We may get some backlash for this, given that Russia itself is at war at the moment, but we want to bring forth the stance of the common people of Russia who are opposed to it,” added Ishita Mehta, the film’s producer.

Ali, a student of the city’s Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), felt that it was important for him, being a Syrian himself, to make a film highlighting the unrest that his country has seen over the years, as well as talk about the larger fallout of war. “My focus in this film was to focus on the human situation brought about by war, rather than the war itself,” Ali told The Telegraph. “I have tried very hard to keep my film apolitical, which is a very difficult task. The majority of the films that have come out of Syria during the war have political overtones,” added Ali.

THE STARTING POINT

Having worked on the field in Syria as a war journalist, Ali wanted to bring the ground reality to the focus of the world. “There is an absence of men in half the families in Syria.. they are either out at war or have perished in it. That has a huge impact on the family, whether it’s the wives or the children. The women become strong because of the circumstances because they have no choice. That brings about a change in the familial dynamic and setup. My film showcases that,” said Ali. “I also wanted to focus on the uncertainty that’s brought on by war, where the family doesn’t even know whether the man gone to war is dead or alive,” he added.

For Ishita, the relative absence of fictional narratives coming out of the Syrian civil war promoted her to back Ali’s vision. “I had mostly watched documentaries around the war in Syria and felt that there was a lack of human stories told in the fictional format,” said Ishita.

For Tushar, backing Father’s Footsteps was precipitated by the fact that it celebrates the grit of a woman. “I showed this film to my parents and even without understanding what was being said in it, my mother had tears at the end of it because she could understand the emotions of the film,” he said.

The main focus of the makers of Father’s Footsteps was to succinctly present the idea of the film and for that reason, keeping it as authentic as possible was key. Nowar Yousef, who plays the character of the mother, and Sara Altawil, who features as the homeowner in the film, were specially flown in from Syria. Jennifer Sidhu, who plays the grandmother in Father’s Footsteps, was discovered by the director in an old-age home, while the role of the young boy in the film is played by Indian actor Veer Behal. The challenges, of course, were many, but the team overcame all odds, powered on by the powerful story they wanted to tell.

“Telling the story of your own country in a foreign land and making it in another country comes with various challenges. I had to recreate Syria here but I had a wonderful team to back me up. Every department was in total sync,” said Ali.

THE WAY FORWARD

The team of Father’s Footsteps is taking encouragement from the fact that their film has caught the eye of programmers of film festivals globally. “We are taking the film to various festivals and our eventual goal is to build an Oscar campaign around it,” signed off Tushar.