» Subscribe for award-winning short films: http://omele.to/sub2drama » Get some merch: http://shop.omele.to The Gift is used with permission from Murat Akser. Learn more at http://omele.to/2QBRd98. THE BEST OF OMELETO » Celebrities on Omeleto: http://omele.to/celebrities » Top-Rated Films: http://omele.to/toprated » Official Selection: http://omele.to/officialselection OMELETO DRAMA ON SOCIAL Instagram: https://ift.tt/37RX7Iy Twitter: http://twitter.com/omeletodrama Facebook: https://ift.tt/2v82mGJ Reddit: https://ift.tt/2FOuVIu Two immigrants to the U.K. are arrested and detained in jail for a mysterious reason. No one is telling them anything; the situation is tense and uncertain, as is their reason for being there in the first place. But then their interrogation begins, and they soon discover that the catalyst for their detainment is a questionable package, full of strange, mysterious items, that they received in the mail. But as the questioning intensifies, the story behind the package is stranger than what anyone could imagine. Based on true events, Murat Akser's short drama is a fascinating, ironic and subtly unusual take on an immigrant story, one that explores the clashing of cultures and how easily gestures, words and actions can be misinterpreted when one doesn't know the full context of anything. The narrative begins much like a thriller, following a mysterious ritual and then a police team breaking into the apartment of the two immigrants. The expertly crafted sequence evokes tension and suspense with the combination of handheld camerawork and a heightened musical score. The editing and storytelling aim to intrigue instead of inform, and it's highly effective in drawing viewer attention in, especially as it segues into an interrogation scene that structures the heart of the film's arc. The interrogation emphasizes shadows and suspense, and echoes in many ways similar scenes in political thrillers about wrongful detainment, with a marked visual emphasis on stylization and mystery. This dark, contextless room is shot very much like a blank, black box, disorienting both viewers and characters into trying to piece together what's happening. The heart of the conflict becomes the cat-and-mouse game between the interrogator, played with great menace by Stuart Graham, and the immigrants, who played with guileless confusion by Curtis Lee Asqhar and Mehmet Toksoz. The interrogator clearly has an agenda, and the immigrants don't understand what's going on. Bringing the gap between the two forms the progression of the storytelling, but when the interrogator finally lays his card on the table, in the form of the package itself, the truth that comes out is stranger than fiction. Whether it sets them free, however, remains to be seen. "The Gift" is shot like a thriller with an emphasis on taut style and suspense. But at its heart it is about the tangle of competing narratives, and whose stories win out in deciding what's true and what isn't. The interrogator applies his own readymade trope over the pieces of the mystery he sees, linking them together in a narrative about terrorists. But the storytelling makes the canny decision to show just where the "gift" in question comes from, revealing a much more nuanced truth. But as the last shot shows, the film's last question wonders if this narrative will come out to the surface -- or if the most convenient story ends up trumping it. ABOUT OMELETO Omeleto is the home of award-winning short films. We showcase Sundance winners, Oscar noms and critically-acclaimed filmmakers from every genre. Subscribe for more: http://sub2.omele.to 2 immigrants get a mysterious package in the mail. Then the police raid their home. | The Gift http://youtu.be/tta9LfxHcf8 https://ift.tt/3c03MDN Omeleto Drama http://www.youtube.com/c/OmeletoDrama https://ift.tt/38SPcfo 🎬 Got a film? Submit it to us for consideration at http://submit2.omele.to
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