Malika Musayeva was born in Grozny, Chechen Republic. During the Second Chehen War in 1999, she fled the Chechen Republic. During her research at Russia’s Kabardino-Balkarian State University she directed a number of quick movies which have been offered at varied worldwide movie festivals. She later acquired a level in Directing on the Hamburg Media School in Germany. In Hamburg, she directed two quick movies. “The Cage is Looking for a Bird” marks her function debut. She presently resides and works in Germany.
“The Cage Is Looking for a Bird” is screening on the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, which runs from February 16-26.
W&H: Describe the movie for us in your individual phrases.
MM: “The Cage Is Looking for a Bird” is a coming-of-age story of a younger Chechen woman known as Yakha who lives in a small Chechen village. She witnesses the patriarchal world the place the fates of her sister, mom, and feminine pal unravel. Yakha decides to cease this vicious circle.
It is a narrative of changing into conscious of her actual self, of the world round her. She makes an attempt to battle for the fitting to determine on how one can dwell her personal life.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
MM: There was no particular event or second that led to the creation of this movie. It was quite an extended, cumulative technique of witnessing the fates of people who find themselves vital to me — for instance, my pals and sisters. It is a sort of compilation of Chechen girls’s fates which have been gathered in my reminiscence. And when it grew to become potential, I made my debut movie on that topic.
I’ve at all times cared concerning the place of Chechen girls. I do know concerning the state of affairs and place of girls in my homeland. It is a selected area the place you don’t speak about your self and your issues. It is vital to me that we speak for ourselves.
W&H: What would you like folks to consider after they watch the movie?
MM: I hope that the screening of the movie on the Berlin Film Festival will carry hope to Chechen ladies. Even if that hope is a drop within the ocean. I want to want Chechen girls to not lose their dream, and to think about themselves. Being born as a Chechen will not be a verdict. And there’s additionally the hope that after watching this movie, society will take discover of the ladies’s drawback in Chechnya. And, as [Russian director] Alexander Sokurov [who taught me at Kabardino-Balkarian State University] used to say, “to soften temperament.”
W&H: What was the largest problem in making the movie?
MM: The indisputable fact that it was potential to make this movie is an actual marvel. In Chechnya, function movies have by no means been made, and folks have no idea what it’s. In addition, the Chechen society is intimidated and lives in fixed worry. That is a consequence of the 2 damaging wars and the political regime wherein folks dwell now. First of all, it was troublesome to search out individuals who would comply with make a movie. The issue was additionally that I didn’t perceive the place to make this sort of movie. With the producer Nikolay Yankin (the Sokurov Foundation’s Example of Intonation), we travelled virtually all around the North Caucasus. It was a tough and troublesome course of. At one level, I used to be simply discouraged, and I assumed I’d by no means be capable of make this movie. Eventually, like a light-weight on the finish of the tunnel, I arrived in a small village on the border with Chechnya and Ingushetia. In this village, I met some wonderful individuals who had dared to stroll this fashion with me.
W&H: How did you get your movie funded? Share some insights into how you bought the movie made.
MM: I made the movie with the help of the Alexander Sokurov Foundation Example of Intonation and Ilya Stewart’s Hype Studios. The authentic proposal to shoot with the assistance of the Example of Intonation Foundation got here from Alexander Sokurov, below whom I studied within the directing workshop at Kabardino- Balkarian University within the metropolis of Nalchik. Without my grasp, this movie would merely not have occurred. At all phases, essentially the most troublesome and generally dangerous ones, Alexander Sokurov helped and supported me in the whole lot. I’ll by no means have the phrases to thank my grasp.
W&H: What impressed you to turn into a filmmaker?
MM: I by no means had the dream of changing into a movie director. My dream since childhood was to turn into a journalist. My idols was Anna Politkovskaya and Natalia Estemirova, and I dreamed of continuous their work and being a human rights activist. I went into directing by probability – my dad and mom wouldn’t let me go to a different metropolis the place I may research journalism. Then I discovered that movie director Alexander Sokurov was coming to Nalchik and was opening a directing workshop. I used to be very unhappy that I used to be not allowed to go to check Journalism after which my mom, to make up for it someway, actually took me by the hand to the college, to the doorway examination for Alexander Sokurov. Later, she regretted it as a result of I had not turn into an ideal Chechen mom, spouse, and housewife.
W&H: What’s one of the best and worst recommendation you’ve acquired?
MM: There have been many, however I can’t keep in mind any. I at all times find yourself doing what I believe is true for me.
W&H: What recommendation do you’ve got for different girls administrators?
MM: I want to give the phrases that Alexander Sokurov used to inform us, “Never be afraid of anything.”
W&H: Name your favourite woman-directed movie and why.
MM: I actually love Rohrwacher’s works. My most favourite movie is “The Wonders.” Her movies for me are an actual miracle, some sort of magic. I’m additionally an enormous fan of Chantal Akerman’s movies. Her work could be very near me – it speaks to me and forces me to look deep into myself.
W&H: What, if any, duties do you assume storytellers must confront the tumult on this planet, from the pandemic to the lack of abortion rights and systemic violence?
MM: Cinema is a robust medium for influencing and educating. It’s additionally a political instrument. Film can be a type of confrontation and battle, and the extra folks within the movie business assume and battle for rights, the extra society has an opportunity to face up in opposition to them. Film can be a type of opposition and battle.
W&H: The movie business has an extended historical past of underrepresenting folks of colour onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — unfavorable stereotypes. What actions do you assume should be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world extra inclusive?
MM: It is crucial that this outdated white man world is disadvantaged of its energy. The movie world wants extra folks of colour who’re actors, actresses, screenwriters, and administrators. It appears to me that sadly this variation continues to be very minimal, at the very least in Germany, the place I dwell.
I wish to see younger administrators and actors who’re folks of colour to have the ability to make their very own tales, quite than have their tales being advised by white folks. People of colour ought to get extra help, funding, and alternatives to inform their very own tales, not the tales the white world dictates to them. This requires that the ill-informed white male resolution makers now not sit in management positions.
It appears to me that change is required from inside, and this variation shouldn’t be a problem on the periphery of the business, however the principle activity. Change has to return from inside.