Noaz Deshe, whose “Xoftex” had its world premiere this week in competition at the Karlovy Vary Movie Pageant, is in post-production along with her next challenge.
Deshe account Selection The new film is a documentary set in Ukraine that is a collaboration with Russian dissident Pyotr Verzilov — an artist and member of the anti-Kremlin performance art group Pussy Riot — and “House of Cards” creator Beau Willimon.
Deshe – a Romanian national whose grandfather was Ukrainian – is not put off by the documentary’s title, but says it is “about intimacy and love in a moment of affection and purpose”.
Deshe’s unsettling second feature, “Xoftex,” is a deep dive into the world of the “other.” Like his acclaimed 2013 directorial debut, “White Shadow,” about an albino boy, “Xoftex” takes viewers on a journey of alienation and pain that is hard to look at.
Inspired by a limitless Greek refugee camp called Softex, north of Thessaloniki, which houses mainly Arab asylum seekers fleeing war in the Middle East, “Xoftex” is a liminal house where time loses its meaning as people who have lost all control over their own lives await bureaucratic decisions that could determine their future.
The film emerged from a documentary challenge Deshe initiated after visiting Softex and being told that the rows of converted shipping containers housing the refugees were the “worst” camp in Greece.
“Xoftex”
Courtesy of Arden Movie
“I went there one night and met some people who they always said would come and talk to people, they had stories they wanted to share… problems with management, food,” says Deshe.
Led by the camp’s interpreter, Bajhat, the individuals gathered around sharing tales: “One told a ghost story, another about his ancestors stepping through the wall,” he recalls. “The next thing is that we’re operating through the nearby training yards, filming an action movie.”
The expertise led to a theatre workshop organised by Intervolve, a small NGO, and Deshe was inspired to get more involved. It was from the stories created over a series of theatre workshops that “Xoftex” emerged, along with a key film-within-a-film, where refugees create their own zombie film.
“People must do one thing in this horrible time and place; many people you meet in the camps don’t want to talk about the sadness they’ve been through, but instead consider making a compilation of their lives – what their lives will be like, what languages they need to learn, where they will live, what jobs they will get.”
This helps to occupy individuals who spend their lives waiting for a call that could determine whether or not they will be granted asylum.
Based on the story of two brothers he met at camp, Deshe creates a surreal, dreamlike tale where truth and fiction merge and transform. Nasser, the younger of the two brothers seen in the film, aims to build a life for himself in Sweden and invent an unattainable Tesla-like energy machine. He appears to succeed, reuniting with his sister in the Scandinavian nation, before a stunning, dreamlike scene suggests that a darker fate has already overtaken the brother.
Those living in the limbo of refugee camps are in a relentless state of pressure, says Deshe.
“This state of mind, the tension, not having the ability to perceive the place where you are – you are not here or there – you cannot define, you are in the hands of a system, you do not know if you are trapped or not, this creates these constructions.”
Deshe hopes the film can help audiences discover some sense of empathy for those whose experiences are so different from most people’s, though he denies that it is an explicitly political film.
“I hope people watch this film and see the opposite in a different way and see the opposite in themselves. The purpose is to point out to you something you didn’t see, to make you think twice about your values and the ingrained racism (that you probably have) simply from growing up in a certain place.”