In This World (2002)

Director:

Michael Winterbottom

Writer:

Tony Grisoni (writer)

Release Date:

28 March 2003 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The journey to freedom has no borders.

Plot:

Enayat and Jamal are Afghan refugees who live in a camp in Peshawar and try to escape to Great Britain by the help of people smugglers...

Plot Keywords:

Iran | Refugee | Turkey | Suffocation | Truck

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Jamal Udin Torabi	...	Jamal
Enayatullah	...	Enayat
Imran Paracha	...	Travel Agent (Pakistan)
Hiddayatullah	...	Enayat's Brother (Pakistan)
Jamau	...	Enayat's Father (Pakistan)
Wakeel Khan	...	Enayat's Uncle 1 (Pakistan)
Lal Zarin	...	Enayat's Uncle 2 (Pakistan)
Ahsan Raza	...	Money Changer (Pakistan)
Mirwais Torabi	...	Jamal's Older Brother (Pakistan)
Abdul Ahmad	...	Groom (Pakistan)
Amanullah Torabi	...	Jamal's Younger Brother (Pakistan)
Ramzan Ali	...	Driver 1 (Pakistan)
Chaman Ali	...	Driver 2 (Pakistan)
Rasheed	...	Soldier Shaheen (Pakistan)
Allah Bauhsh	...	Farid (Pakistan)
Hossain Baghaeian	...	Behrooz (Iran)
Yaaghoob Nosraj Poor	...	Kurdish Father (Iran)
Ghodrat Poor	...	Kurdish Mother (Iran)
Mehdi Poor	...	Kurdish Baby (Iran)
Ahmad Azami	...	Kurdish Father (Iran)
Yusef Azami	...	Kurdish Son (Iran)
Mr. Eghdame	...	Bus Driver 1 (Iran)
Mr. Dehghame	...	Bus Driver 2 (Iran)
Mr. Yusuf	...	Bus Driver 3 (Iran)
Bayram Arjangi	...	Truck Driver (Iran)
Jaffa Eghbali	...	4WD Driver (Iran)
Kerem Atabeyoglu	...	Policeman (Turkey)
Erham Sekizcan	...	Factory Boss (Turkey)
Nabil Elouahabi	...	Yusif (Europe)
Paul Popplewell	...	Voice Over (Europe) (voice)

Directed by
Michael Winterbottom

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Tony Grisoni		writer

Produced by
Chris Auty	....	executive producer
Andrew Eaton	....	producer
Behrooz Hashemian	....	co-producer
Fiona Neilson	....	associate producer
Anita Overland	....	producer
David M. Thompson	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Dario Marianelli

Cinematography by
Marcel Zyskind

Film Editing by
Peter Christelis

Casting by
Wendy Brazington

Production Management
Jethro Harris	....	post-production manager

Sound Department
Tim Alban	....	dubbing mixer
Justine Angus	....	supervising foley editor
Gianluca Buttari	....	foley recordist
Richard Davey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Melissa Lake	....	foley artist
James Perry	....	foley assistant
Damian Reynolds	....	dubbing mixer
Joakim Sundström	....	supervising sound editor
David Turner	....	sound technical coordinator
Stuart Wilson	....	sound recordist

Visual Effects by
Jim Parsons	....	digital effects compositor
Damien Raymond-Barker	....	digital effects producer

Editorial Department
Chris Beeton	....	telecine colorist
Cas Casey	....	on-line editor
Simon Giblin	....	digital on-line editor
Helen Phelps	....	image post-production
Shane Warden	....	digital on-line editor

Music Department
Peter Fuchs	....	score mixer
Dario Marianelli	....	conductor
Dario Marianelli	....	orchestrator
Paul Talkington	....	orchestral contractor
Kevin Townend	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Guy Barker	....	production accountant
Ruth Breslaw	....	production coordinator
Nicole Carmen-Davis	....	legal services
Alex Fuller	....	technical consultant: The Boffin
Alec Gibson	....	laboratory grader
Josh Hyams	....	production assistant (as Joshua Hyams)
Paul Monaghan	....	production assistant
Ian Robinson	....	laboratory contact
Mat Whitecross	....	production assistant

Thanks
David Bryan	....	thanks
Ian Buchan	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Film Consortium, The
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Film Council (in association with)
• Works, The (in association with)
• Revolution Films

Distributors

• Arsenal (2003) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Bright Angel Distribution (2003) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Sundance Film Series (2003) (USA) (theatrical)
• Toshiba Entertainment (Japan) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (200?) (Netherlands) (video)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Haut et Court (France)
• Lions Gate Films (USA)
• Mikado (Italy)
• Mongrel Media (2004) (Canada)
• Sundance Channel Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (video)
• Sundance Channel
• Sunfilm Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Total Film Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• VideoFilmes (2006) (Brazil) (DVD)
• YLE Teema (2007) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Central Station Technicolour  titles
• Gearbox Sound and Vision  additional ProTools systems supplied by
• Limehouse Recordings  sound post-production
• Pepper  digital post-production
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services
• Videosonics Cinema Sound  sound re-recorded at

Also Known As:

The Silk Road (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for brief strong language.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

UK

Language:

Pashtu | Persian | English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:12 | Hungary:14 | Spain:T | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | New Zealand:R13

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Film Consortium, The

Trivia:

The film had two working titles before settling on its final name. While it was being shot, it was known as "The Silk Road". This was primarily as a cover, since officials in many countries were told the film was a documentary about that historical subject. Later, it was known as "M1187511", which was the UK Home Office's file number for the real-life Jamal's application for refugee status. Before its release however, the title was changed to "In This World". As Michael Winterbottom describes on the DVD, the title came from a line in the film where Jamal was translated as saying that a central character was dead. Jamal informed Winterbottom, on seeing this, that it was inaccurate. What he had actually said was that the man was "no longer in this world". Hence the film's title.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Goedemorgen Nederland: (2003-10-16)" (2003)

An anti-reality... both real and surreal in equal measures

Over the last decade, Michael Winterbottom has emerged as perhaps the most intelligent and creative filmmaker working in Britain today. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he is unconcerned by the pressures of current cinematic trends and the importance of the Hollywood movie-system, and has instead crafted a series of visually distinctive and emotionally heartfelt films dealing with a range of subjects; from sexual jealousy, infertility, modern-day alienation, the American frontier and Manchester's vibrant post-punk music scene of the late 70's and early 80's. His best films have fused dreamlike imagery - often drawing on Bergman and Kieslowski as primary influences - with an almost-documentary-like sense of time, place and character. In This World (2002) takes that idea to new and unexplored levels, giving us a film that sets up an anti-reality that allows the film to drift in and out of the real and the surreal at any given opportunity to further establish the strained connection that the characters literally have with the world around them.

The sense of space seems lifted from the work of Iranian filmmakers like Samira Makhmalbaf (The Apple, Blackboards) with the idea of heightened reality coming from the employment of non-professional actors and the general cultural background of the characters. In the opening scenes, Winterbottom offers us an anachronistic narration to give the film a further sense of reality, whilst later scenes show townsfolk and children gazing with wonderment into the camera lens. This façade of the real, which is a fictional account based on fact, is so successful that whenever a character died on screen, the people who I viewed the film with questioned whether or not Winterbottom was creating some kind of art-house snuff. The actors are drawing on real experiences and it is this particular element that gives the film its unrivalled emotional control and unbelievable sense of tragedy, with lead actors Enayatullah and, in particular, the young Jamal Udin Torabi, both offering outstanding performances.

Winterbottom keeps the episodic narrative running smoothly, using the fallen innocence of Jamal as the catalyst for the film. He anchors this with the use of imagery also; hand-held digital video with jump cuts, slow motion, time-lapse, night-vision photography, and colour filters; all being used to create a dislocated atmosphere, in an attempt to make the character's surroundings both alien and threatening. It works, Winterbottom, along with his cinematographer Marcel Zyskind, create some of the most beautiful images of contemporary British cinema.

In this World is a film both moving and compassionate without ever feeling the need to rely on cloying sentiment or exposition-by-numbers. Winterbottom skilfully allows the film to unfold naturally, leaving it to the central performers to create a connection with the audience. It is so refreshing to see a contemporary British filmmaker shunning the influence of Hollywood and instead looking to filmmakers like the aforementioned Samira Makhmalbaf as well as Maryiam Parvin Almani and Abbas Kiarostami, as opposed to producing lush, period costume pictures of standard thrillers. Like the works of those individuals, this is important, intelligent, imaginative and above all else, serious film-making, which should be experienced by as many people as possible.