#Aida Begić

[thefestival]

The Festival - Developer Log 6, 6/06/2024

Hello!

Following up from my last devlog a couple weeks back, one major thing I want to share today is the current outline for The Festival’s pilot quest, Hemmingward.

The first draft for this script was completed in Fall 2023, and in the past term Bekir reviewed the script in its entirety, raising several issues that I needed to address. The second draft of the script is currently in progress, though I don’t have an estimate on when exactly it will be completed.

What we do have completed is an outline of the second draft, which I am going to share with you all today. This outline is still subject to change, but this is the current version that I am working to flesh out and implement. The script is divided into three ‘acts’, primarily to make the overall script easier to read and work with.

This story is heavily based on the Bosnian film Snow/Snijeg (2008), by director Aida Begić. The central premise of a village having lost all its men and dealing with a visitor who, unbeknownst to them, was complicit in the loss of their men is taken straight from Snow.

I will detail the outline of the quest below the cut.

Hemmingward

Log Line

In pursuit of a secret recipe, Nishma is roped into solving a decade-long mystery, and putting a village’s trauma to rest.

Act I

Nishma and Gil to the hamlet of Hemmingward to obtain the recipe for Mandrake Meat, a plant-based substance that closely resembles red meat. The elderwomen of the village have offered to take part in Nishma’s festival, and they have invited her to their town to discuss their involvement.

However, she is not the only one who wants the recipe – a businessman named Helvan Dynicus is trying to buy it off the villagers.

Nishma and Gil run into Helvan shortly after they arrive in town. The girls sense there’s something off about the man, who attempts to rope Nishma into his scheme. After a brief exchange, Nishma and Gil continue on their way to meet with the elderwomen – Elders Margot, Camaltha, and Eurydice.

The duo sit down to have lunch with the elderwomen, who share the history of their town and their mandrake meat cuisine over a pleasant meal. However, things get complicated once the subject of Helvan Dynicus comes up. While Elder Margot is fully onboard with joining the festival, Elders Camaltha and Eurydice are reluctant to commit without first dealing with this mysterious interloper. Soon, they reveal to Nishma and Gil that they suspect Helvan of being a former military officer who came to Hemmingward years ago and rounded up all of the village's men.

When presented with this information, Nishma will be asked to investigate Helvan Dynicus’s true identity, using her connections to the Citizens Militia (the new ruling government of Eastoria) to find out if this man is indeed the same one as the officer who came 15 years prior.

In the full game, Nishma will have the option of accepting or refusing this quest. For this vertical slice, she will accept the elderwomen’s request, and she and Gil will set out to research what they can about this man (though Gil informs Nishma that they are way over their heads in accepting this responsibility).

After this inciting conversation, Nishma and Gil will place a call with Quartermaster Holmes, a Citizens Militia officer who is helping Nishma with logistical details for the festival.

Holmes is concerned by Nishma trying to carry out this investigation on her own, but nonetheless refers her to the Citizens Militia’s military archives as the place where she will most likely get an answer. With their new objective established, Nishma and Gil leave the village of Hemmingward to start their investigation.

Act II

We fast forward in time a few days. Nishma and Gil visit the military archives to begin their search for any paperwork or evidence pertaining to Helvan Dynicus and the village of Hemmingward. This section of gameplay will be mostly centered on reading documents. I would compare it to some of the side quests/minigames from Pentiment, where the protagonist takes time out of their day to learn some new information about both the world, and the quest at hand.

Eventually, Nishma will find a relevant paper detailing what happened at Hemmingward, but it’s vague in its details and Helvan’s name isn’t listed anywhere. Convinced that the name Helvan Dynicus must be an alias, and that he could still be one of the named officers listed, Nishma tries to gain access to a different part of the archive that could hold information on officer dossiers. However, she and Gil must convince an on-duty guard to let her into that part of the archive. Currently I have three solutions to this conundrum. Nishma can either:

Bribe the guard

Fetch an item of significance for the guard

Resolve an ideological dispute between him and someone else

Once one of these is completed, the guard will allow Nishma access to the other portion of the archive. Once there, Nishma will eventually find the dossier of one of the officers listed as being present at Hemmingward, and realize that he is indeed the same man as Helvan Dynicus. She and Gil will then head to Quartermaster Holmes to present their findings.

At this meeting, Nishma, Gil, and Holmes will discuss the logistics of apprehending Helvan, concluding that they have to work with the elderwomen of Hemmingward to arrest him. After this meeting, Nishma and Gil will call the elderwomen, and arrange to set another meeting as soon as possible.

Act III

Soon after their phone call, Nishma and Gil travel to Hemmingward with two other Citizens Militia soldiers. They meet once more with the elderwomen, along with Taemahra, another resident of the village who has had to deal with Helvan’s interference.

The elderwomen say that Helvan has been out of town for the past couple days, but that they can call him back with a false promise to negotiate a deal for their mandrake meat recipe. There is some conflict over what to do with Helvan once is in custody, with the elderwomen wanting to carry out justice for their men on their terms, and Gil wanting to bring Helvan in to stand trial for his actions. Nishma is able to persuade the elderwomen to go along with the plan to bring Helvan to trial for the time being, though they’re not fully convinced it’s the best idea.

The following day, Helvan returns to town to meet with the elderwomen at their old town hall to sign a deal with them, at which point Gil and the other soldiers spring their trap. They have Helvan in handcuffs, but Helvan manages to catch everyone off-guard by promising to show the elderwomen where their men are buried. At this point the elderwomen demand to have Helvan be handed over, but Gil refuses, and squabbles with elder Camaltha. Nishma is unable to intervene before Helvan throws down a smoke bomb to throw everyone off and cover his escape.

He doesn’t get far though before he runs outside and is shot in the leg by Taemahra, who was standing guard with her own rifle. Injured, Helvan succumbs to the ground, and is taken back inside the town hall by Gil and the soldiers. They and the elderwomen tend to Helvan’s wound while having him confined.

We fast forward a few hours. A crowd has gathered outside the town hall due to the commotion. The two soldiers previously accompanying Gil are posted outside to keep people at bay.

Once Helvan recovers enough to ‘talk’, the elderwomen press him for answers, with Gil and Nishma also asking him questions. It is here that Helvan’s polite façade from earlier disappears, and we see a truly rotten man who casts away all blame for what he did to the village’s men.

After a hostile conversation, the elderwomen agree they will execute Helvan, and go outside to speak with Taemahra about being their executioner. Gil runs after them, leaving Nishma alone with Helvan.

Helvan tries to appeal to Nishma’s kindness and desire to hold the festival (which was informed about in Act I in the first conversation) in an attempt to bribe her to let him survive. He explains he would rather stand trial with the Citizens Militia, believing he can plausibly explain his innocence. Nishma can make multiple choices here:

Accept the bribe and try to talk the elderwomen into letting him live

Reject the bribe but try to convince the elderwomen that it’s important for Helvan to be tried in a court of law

Reject the bribe and let the elderwomen kill him, convincing Gil that she and the others ought to step aside

Accept the bribe, but let the elderwomen kill him anyways

If Helvan is allowed to be killed, Taemahra and the elderwomen go back inside, with Taemahra executing Helvan with her rifle.

If Helvan is allowed to live, he will be escorted out by the two other soldiers. His expression will either be smug or worried, depending on if Nishma accepted the bribe or rejected it.

While Nishma can reject the bribe but still have Helvan stand trial, it’s presented in a different way from than if she agrees to go along with his plan. Nishma can point out to Helvan that it’s better he stand trial, not out of a sense of mercy, but because he must answer for any other crimes he may have committed. She also tries to argue – to him and to the elderwomen – that it’s important to use him to set a precedent for how other war criminals should be prosecuted by the Citizens Militia, a task they’ve historically had mixed success with as they’ve tried to present their new government as legitimate.

Ultimately, I wish to present both options – letting the elderwomen execute him, or letting him stand trial – as valid choices, where both have their strengths, and where the elderwomen are not judged for wanting to carry out revenge against the man who grievously harmed their village.

=====================================================

Thank you for reading this far! I would love to hear any feedback or critiques y’all may have, and I am glad I can finally share this outline with you all.

For my next post, I will try to do a character bio for Gil Yurez.

Lastly, a special thank you to Bekir for all his help in suggesting revisions and corrections for this quest.

[siao-jiak-kueh]

Children of Sarajevo (2012) // Aida Begić

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

AMPAS Class of 2017 adds 18 new women directors to the Directors’ Branch

Every year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invites new artists to join the different branches that make up the academy. Why does this matter? Oscar nominees for each category come directly from that branch (i.e. the Directors Branch members vote on who will be nominated for Best Director) while all members vote on the final ballot. 

The Academy as a whole has been criticized for its membership primarily made of older (over 60) white and male members. Last year represented the greatest push for diversity yet with a record number of white women and poc added across all branches. Of particular note to this blog was the fact that 52 women directors were added to the directors branch.

This year a smaller number of women directors were invited to join the branch: 18 out of 64 directors were women, and most of those were white. However a great number of the men invited to join the branch were men of colour and a the overwhelming percentage of directors were non-American once again representing an attempt by AMPAS to continue to diversify its branch. 

What will this mean in the future? It’s difficult to say. Nominees in the directing branch have remained overwhelmingly white and male for the last decade (Kathryn Bigelow, the only woman to win an Oscar is also the last woman to have been nominated for one back at the 2010 ceremony). And there’s no guarantees that non-American nominees will leap at a chance for membership at a prestige American institution (one of last year’s nominees, Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel, flatly rejected membership).

The invitees:

Aida Begić Emmanuelle Bercot Patricia Cardoso Nana Djordjadze Ildikó Enyedi Safi Faye Jessica Hausner Joanna Hogg Ann Hui Christine Jeffs Sharon Maguire Márta Mészáros Jocelyn Moorhouse Kira Muratova Cate Shortland Athina Rachel Tsangari Paula van der Oest Susanna White

[okurtv]

Aida Begić 'Bırakma Beni' filmi ile Pingyoa Uluslararası Film Festivali’nden Ödül Aldı Sinemecra.com

https://sinemecra.com/2017/11/08/aida-begic-birakma-beni-filmi-ile-pingyoa-uluslararasi-film-festivalinden-odul-aldi/

Aida Begić 'Bırakma Beni' filmi ile Pingyoa Uluslararası Film Festivali’nden Ödül Aldı

8 mülteci çocuğun hayatını anlatan ‘Bırakma Beni’ filmi ile 54. Uluslararası Antalya Film Festivali’nde prömiyerini yapan ödüllü yönetmen Aida Begić, geçtiğimiz günlerde Pingyoa Uluslararası Film Festivali (PYIFF)’nde görücüye çıktı ve ‘İzleyici Tercihi – Popüler Ödüller’ kategorisinde ‘en iyi fi...

via: https://sinemecra.com/2017/11/08/aida-begic-birakma-beni-filmi-ile-pingyoa-uluslararasi-film-festivalinden-odul-aldi/

[directedbywomen]

Children of Sarajevo (2012) directed by Aida Begić is streaming free on Festival Scope right now. 

Have you explored Aida Begić‘s work?

My #90minDirectedbyWomen yearlong film viewing practice continues:  day 152.   

[behcette]

Snow (Aida Begić, 2008)

[albay34-blog]

BOSNALI YÖNETMEN SURİYELİ YETİMLERİ BEYAZPERDEYE TAŞIDI

BOSNALI YÖNETMEN SURİYELİ YETİMLERİ BEYAZPERDEYE TAŞIDI

BOSNALI ÖDÜLLÜ YÖNETMEN TÜRKİYE’DEKİ SURİYELİ YETİMLERİ BEYAZPERDEYE TAŞIDI

Yönettiği filmlerle dünyada büyük yankı uyandıran Cannes ödüllü Bosnalı yönetmen Aida Begiç, Türkiye’deki Suriyeli yetim çocukların hayatını beyazperdeye taşıdı. Çekimleri tamamlanan ve Suriyeli çocukların gerçek hikayesini yine Suriyeli yetim çocukların canlandırdığı “Bırakma Beni” filmi, ilk kez Antalya Film…

[prijedor24]

Aida Begić proizvodi narodne nošnje: Najbolja terapija u stresna vremena

Aida Begić iz Sanskog Mosta se već godinama bavi proizvodnjom narodnih nošnji i ukrasnih predmeta s etnomotivima. Objašnjava kako na području Unsko-sanskog kantona postoji samo još jedan takav zanatlija koji se nekada na selu nazivao abadžija, dok je u gradu imao drugačiji naziv i zvao se terzija.

Begićeva kaže kako su sve narodne nošnje i predmeti koje proizvodi nastajali u okviru kućne…

[gregor-samsung]

Les Ponts de Sarajevo [Bridges of Sarajevo] (Various Authors - 2014)

[oldmogg]

Afghanistan, “Rona Azim’s Mother,” Jamshid Mahmoudi, director; Algeria, “Until the End of Time,” Yasmine Chouikh, director; Argentina, “El Ángel,” Luis Ortega, director; Armenia, “Spitak,” Alexander Kott, director; Australia, “Jirga,” Benjamin Gilmour, director; Austria, “The Waldheim Waltz,” Ruth Beckermann, director; Bangladesh, “No Bed of Roses,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director; Belarus, “Crystal Swan,” Darya Zhuk, director; Belgium, “Girl,” Lukas Dhont, director; Bolivia, “The Goalkeeper,” Rodrigo “Gory” Patiño, director; Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Never Leave Me,” Aida Begić, director; Brazil, “The Great Mystical Circus,” Carlos Diegues, director; Bulgaria, “Omnipresent,” Ilian Djevelekov, director; Cambodia, “Graves without a Name,” Rithy Panh, director; Canada, “Family First,” Sophie Dupuis, director; Chile, “…And Suddenly the Dawn,” Silvio Caiozzi, director; China, “Hidden Man,” Jiang Wen, director; Colombia, “Birds of Passage,” Cristina Gallego, Ciro Guerra, directors; Costa Rica, “Medea,” Alexandra Latishev, director; Croatia, “The Eighth Commissioner,” Ivan Salaj, director; Czech Republic, “Winter Flies,” Olmo Omerzu, director; Denmark, “The Guilty,” Gustav Möller, director; Dominican Republic, “Cocote,” Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias, director; Ecuador, “A Son of Man,” Jamaicanoproblem, director; Egypt, “Yomeddine,” A.B. Shawky, director; Estonia, “Take It or Leave It,” Liina Trishkina-Vanhatalo, director; Finland, “Euthanizer,” Teemu Nikki, director; France, “Memoir of War,” Emmanuel Finkiel, director; Georgia, “Namme,” Zaza Khalvashi, director; Germany, “Never Look Away,” Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director; Greece, “Polyxeni,” Dora Masklavanou, director; Hong Kong, “Operation Red Sea,” Dante Lam, director; Hungary, “Sunset,” László Nemes, director; Iceland, “Woman at War,” Benedikt Erlingsson, director; India, “Village Rockstars,” Rima Das, director; Indonesia, “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts,” Mouly Surya, director; Iran, “No Date, No Signature,” Vahid Jalilvand, director; Iraq, “The Journey,” Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji, director; Israel, “The Cakemaker,” Ofir Raul Graizer, director; Italy, “Dogman,” Matteo Garrone, director; Japan, “Shoplifters,” Hirokazu Kore-eda, director; Kazakhstan, “Ayka,” Sergey Dvortsevoy, director; Kenya, “Supa Modo,” Likarion Wainaina, director; Kosovo, “The Marriage,” Blerta Zeqiri, director; Latvia, “To Be Continued,” Ivars Seleckis, director; Lebanon, “Capernaum,” Nadine Labaki, director; Lithuania, “Wonderful Losers: A Different World,” Arunas Matelis, director; Luxembourg, “Gutland,” Govinda Van Maele, director; Macedonia, “Secret Ingredient,” Gjorce Stavreski, director; Malawi, “The Road to Sunrise,” Shemu Joyah, director; Mexico, “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón, director; Montenegro, “Iskra,” Gojko Berkuljan, director; Morocco, “Burnout,” Nour-Eddine Lakhmari, director; Nepal, “Panchayat,” Shivam Adhikari, director; Netherlands, “The Resistance Banker,” Joram Lürsen, director; New Zealand, “Yellow Is Forbidden,” Pietra Brettkelly, director; Niger, “The Wedding Ring,” Rahmatou Keïta, director; Norway, “What Will People Say,” Iram Haq, director; Pakistan, “Cake,” Asim Abbasi, director; Palestine, “Ghost Hunting,” Raed Andoni, director; Panama, “Ruben Blades Is Not My Name,” Abner Benaim, director; Paraguay, “The Heiresses,” Marcelo Martinessi, director; Peru, “Eternity,” Oscar Catacora, director; Philippines, “Signal Rock,” Chito S. Roño, director; Poland, “Cold War,” Pawel Pawlikowski, director; Portugal, “Pilgrimage,” João Botelho, director; Romania, “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians,” Radu Jude, director; Russia, “Sobibor,” Konstantin Khabensky, director; Serbia, “Offenders,” Dejan Zecevic, director; Singapore, “Buffalo Boys,” Mike Wiluan, director; Slovakia, “The Interpreter,” Martin Šulík, director; Slovenia, “Ivan,” Janez Burger, director; South Africa, “Sew the Winter to My Skin,” Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, director; South Korea, “Burning,” Lee Chang-dong, director; Spain, “Champions,” Javier Fesser, director; Sweden, “Border,” Ali Abbasi, director; Switzerland, “Eldorado,” Markus Imhoof, director; Taiwan, “The Great Buddha+,” Hsin-Yao Huang, director; Thailand, “Malila The Farewell Flower,” Anucha Boonyawatana, director; Tunisia, “Beauty and the Dogs,” Kaouther Ben Hania, director; Turkey, “The Wild Pear Tree,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director; Ukraine, “Donbass,” Sergei Loznitsa, director; United Kingdom, “I Am Not a Witch,” Rungano Nyoni, director; Uruguay, “Twelve-Year Night,” Álvaro Brechner, director; Venezuela, “The Family,” Gustavo Rondón Córdova, director; Vietnam, “The Tailor,” Buu Loc Tran, Kay Nguyen, directors; Yemen, “10 Days before the Wedding,” Amr Gamal, director.

[gledaliscevelenje]

Gledališka delavnica: Telo kot osnovno igralsko sredstvo

Kraj: Velenje Prizorišče: Center Nova Velenje Začetek: 03.03.2018

Javni sklad RS za kulturne dejavnosti Območna izpostava VELENJE Soorganizatorji, organizacijski odbor, umetniški svet: KD Gledališče Velenje, ZKD Šaleške doline

Predavatelji in mentorji: Dejan Spasić 1974, Ljubljana, Slovenija.

Študiral dramaturgijo na ljubljanski AGRFT. Zrežiral več gledaliških predstav. Za svojo prvo vlogo v študentskem filmu Moje male ljubice (r. Matjaž Ivanišin, 2006) je bil nagrajen z vesno za najboljšega igralca leta. Odigral tudi vlogi v bosanskem celovečernem filmu Sneg (r. Aida Begić, 2008), ki je prejel nagrado za najboljši film programa "Teden kritike" mednarodnega filmskega festivala v Cannesu 2008 ter v celovečernem filmu Slovenka (r. Damjan Kozole, v post-produkciji).

Telo kot osnovno igralsko sredstvo

Govorjena beseda in zgodba sta stvar razvitega, kultiviranega, racionalnega gledališča, medtem ko telo, ki se suče v ritmu zvokov in zaklinjanj, pripada njegovim ritualnim izvorom. Živo telo na odru nas opominja, da se gledališče dogaja pred nami „tukaj in zdaj“. Čeprav se zdi, da klasično gledališče, kot ga razumemo danes, temelji predvsem na besedi, pa je telo, kot fizična prisotnost na odru, še vedno posoda, iz katere vse izhaja. V telesu se vse začne: ideje, emocije, reakcije; konec koncev se tudi same besede tvorijo v telesu, preden pridejo do soigralca ali gledalca; predvsem pa je telo igralca ali igralke orodje-aparat, s katerim se izraža in pripoveduje. Telo lahko pripoveduje zgodbo brez besed; ko pa nastopa v kombinaciji z besedami, jih lahko potrjuje ali jih postavlja na laž. Telo lahko za besedami stoji ali pa se za njimi skriva. Kdor stopa na oder, stopi nanj vedno s svojim telesom. Telo je njegovo osnovno orodje, njegov aparat - govorni, gibalni, izrazni – zato ga je vredno vzdrževati, negovati, razvijati, razumeti, uporabljati.

Strokovno vodstvo: Dejan Spasić Rok za prijave 1. marec 2018 Prijavnica: https://goo.gl/iVXJVF

[stkguncel]

RT @Besirdernegi: Aida Begić, Bırakma Beni filmi ile Çin’den ödülle döndü! Çin’de izleyicinin tercihiyle oluşturulan ‘Popüler Ödüller… https://t.co/NdbZajSyHM

[keremabadi]

RT @Besirdernegi: Aida Begić, Bırakma Beni filmi ile Çin’den ödülle döndü! Çin’de izleyicinin tercihiyle oluşturulan ‘Popüler Ödüller… https://t.co/NdbZajSyHM

Aida Begić, Bırakma Beni filmi ile Çin’den ödülle döndü! Çin’de izleyicinin tercihiyle oluşturulan ‘Popüler Ödüller’ kategorisinde en iyi film: Bırakma Beni Uluslararası Antalya Film Festivali’nde açılış filmi olarak gösterilmiş ve büyük beğeni toplamıştı. https://t.co/5R1XUQwhyK

— Beşir Derneği (@Besirdernegi) November 8, 2017

[jedimolivolicom]

U svečanoj atmosferi otvorenja Antalija Film Festivala premijerno je prikazan igrani film "Never leave me" (Ne ostavljaj me) bosanskohercegovačke rediteljice Aide Begić, koji nikoga u punoj kinosali nije ostavio ravnodušnim. Emotivno je premijeru doživjela i Aida koja je naišla na pozitivne reakcije publike i kritike i čiji rad je nagrađen višeminutnim aplauzom i ovacijama.

[okurtv]

Aida Begic'in Son Filmi Bırakma Beni'nin Galasına Yoğun İlgi Sinemecra.com

https://sinemecra.com/2018/09/24/aida-begicin-son-filmi-birakma-beninin-galasina-yogun-ilgi/

Aida Begic'in Son Filmi Bırakma Beni'nin Galasına Yoğun İlgi

Cannes ödüllü Bosnalı yönetmen Aida Begic’in, Türkiye’de yaşayan Suriyeli yetim çocukların gerçek yaşam hikayesini beyaz perdeye taşıdığı Bırakma Beni filmi, 21 Eylül’de vizyona girdi. 2019 Akademi Ödülleri’nde Oscar adayı filmin galası ise Cemal Reşit Rey Konser Salonu’nda yönetmen ve yapı...

via: https://sinemecra.com/2018/09/24/aida-begicin-son-filmi-birakma-beninin-galasina-yogun-ilgi/

[directedbywomen]

Celebrating women film directors born on May 9th...

Happy Birthday, Aida Begić, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Helen Hill, Jean Pesce, Kimberly DiPersia, Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir, Rhonda & Sharee Washington and Tessa Blake!