Omar - A Documentary Film

The Project

My project is to make a documentary film about Omar and his project.

I have been living with Omar (49) in Zurich for more than two years. Although we come from very different backgrounds, our complicity has developed over the course of many discussions that we have shared. At the end of one of them, Omar told me that he wanted to return to his native country, Gambia, in the years to come. This is because he has a project there that is close to his heart.

Every winter, Omar returns to Gambia for his holidays. He meets the local youth and notices that many of them want to be seen and recognised for what they do, both in music and in videos. To support these young people, through his camera, Omar has the idea to document, film and edit his own videos.

As a spectator of the conception of this project from the beginning, I would like to make a thirty minute documentary film about the development of Omar’s idea. As a second-year student at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), majoring in film, my goal is to support him in his project on a technical and material level while making his portrait.

The «why» behind our project

Omar is a person who has inspired me enormously, whether by his kindness to the people he meets, his optimistic vision of the world, his generosity or his way of gaining respect while remaining modest and discreet. Through this documentary film, my aim is not only to help Omar in the realisation of his project, but also to pay him tribute. Omar is a person who has lived through many significant events throughout his life and for whom I have a lot of respect. The project he has for the years to come deserves to be not only supported but also shared.

In addition to the portrait of Omar, my documentary film will be an opportunity to deal with a topic that is not often dealt with by the media: it’s the topic about all those Africans who decide to return to their native country after having spent a large part of their lives in Europe. I find it interesting to present it through the portrait of Omar and his project.

My documentary film will be composed of four main parts in which viewers will gradually get to know Omar, his project and the way in which he is going to organise himself to set it up. Each part will have a different way of being told and filmed. The first part will be filmed in direct cinema. This will allow the audience to immerse themselves directly, for a few minutes, in Omar’s life. The second part will be more quiet and will be devoted to his biography. The third part will be a mixture of direct cinema and computer screen film to tell the story of how Omar deals with his project. Finally, the last part will use the images that Omar filmed and edited for his first films and videos.

Why do I need your support?

Like any project, my project has a cost. Firstly, a third of the budget will be used for the production part of the project, including travel and transport of equipment to Gambia. The film crew will consist of a sound engineer, Rafael Graf, and myself behind the camera. Secondly, a second third of the budget will be used for the equipment I want to provide Omar with for his project. This includes a camera, a computer and an editing software. Finally, the last third will be used for the post-production work of the documentary film including editing, sound design, color grading and translation.

I would like to thank in advance all the entities and people who support and believe in this project.

Thank you sincerely for your support.

Kindest

Gabriel and Omar