Tigers
Special Screening - Ajyal Youth Film Festival 2015
Danis Tanović / Feature Narrative / India, France, United Kingdom / 2014 / 90 min / Colour / DCP2K / In English, German, Urdu / Arabic, English subtitles / Qatar Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance is advised for viewers under the age of 13. Individuals under the age of 13 are not admitted into cinemas unless accompanied by an individual aged 18 or older.
Synopsis
In Pakistan, Ayan (a brilliant performance from Emran Hashmi) is a young salesman of locally made medical products. Constantly running up against the consumer preference for Western brand-name medications, he struggles to make a living for himself and his new bride until he lands a job with the multinational corporation Lastavita. With his magnetic charisma – aided by a constant stream of “impress money” to spend on his clients – Ayan quickly expands his employer’s market share, and his success is reflected in his rising income.
One day, however, a doctor friend shows Ayan the results of sales of one of Lastavita’s key products. Pressed into buying baby formula that they do not need (breastfeeding is far healthier), impoverished women mix it with contaminated water to feed to their babies. In a horrendous strike of irony, the infants become malnourished and many die in short order. Shocked, Ayan immediately resigns and launches a dangerous campaign to bring international attention to this heinous abdication of ethics in the name of profit.
Based on a true story, ‘Tigers’ features real-life footage of deathly ill Pakistani children taken during the film’s production – a harsh and disturbing reminder that the tragedy the film describes has in no way abated – and that for some, cash remains more valuable than human life.
About the Director
Danis Tanović was born in 1969 in Zenica, in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. A Bosnian director and screenwriter, he achieved international recognition for his first feature-length film ‘No Man’s Land’, which he wrote and directed. Tanović’s studies at the Academy of Performing Arts were interrupted by the Siege of Sarajevo; he joined a film crew that documented the Siege and the Bosnian War before resuming studies at the Institut Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle (INSAS) in Brussels.
In 2001, ‘No Man’s Land’ had its world premiere at the Festival de Cannes, where it won the award for Best Screenplay. A black comedy about the absurdity of war, the film went on to win more than 40 awards internationally, among them the prize for Best Screenplay from the European Film Academy, the César for Best First Feature Film and the Best Foreign Language Film Award at both the Golden Globe and Academy Awards.
His subsequent films, including ‘L’Enfer’ (2005), ‘Cirkus Columbia’ (2010) and ‘An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker’ cemented his reputation as a significant voice in world cinema. His most recent film, ‘Tigers’ (2014), had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In 2008, Tanović founded the political party, Naša Stranka with the intention of bringing political change to his homeland. Currently, he lives in Sarajevo, where he is a professor of film directing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo.
Credits
- Director
- Danis Tanović
- Screenwriter
- Danis Tanović, Andy Paterson
- Producer
- Prashita Chaudhary, Kshitij Chaudhary, Guneet Monga, Anurag Kashyap, Andy Paterson, Cat Villiers, Cedomir Kolar, Marc Baschet
- Editor
- Prerna Saigal
- Music
- Pritam
- Cinematographer
- Erol Zubcevic
- Sales Company
- The Match Factory
- Production Company
- Cinemorphic Pvt Ltd (India), Sikhya Entertainment Pvt Ltd (India)
- Cast
- Emraan Hashmi, Geetanjali, Danny Huston, Khalid Abdalla, Adil Hussain, Maryam D'Abo, Satyadeep Misra, Heino Ferch, Sam Reid, Supriya Pathak, Vinod Nagpal