Charm
A group of friends play make-believe until one of them burps!
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Saleen GomaniDirector
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Saleen GomaniWriter
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Saleen GomaniProducer
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Ese EjodameKey Cast
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Kayo MpoyiKey Cast
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Hellen FioriKey Cast
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Liam Aguilar CastilloKey Cast
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Markus IsabelKey Cast
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Sultana Mwesiga-EliasKey Cast
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Gabriel BergKey Cast
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Saleen GomaniKey Cast
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Amanda MuisyoDirector of Photography
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Viktor EnvallFocus Puller
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Stella IfambeGrip
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Roda AbdalleFirst Assistant Director
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Arazo ArifProduction Assistant
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Lionel TurnerGaffer
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Maya Meron EshetuBest Person Electric
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Sofia LinanderSound Technician
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Julian QuevedoBoom Operator
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Project Type:Experimental, Short, Other
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Genres:Art Film, Experimental
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Runtime:4 minutes 25 seconds
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Completion Date:August 28, 2021
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Production Budget:500 EUR
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Country of Origin:Sweden
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Country of Filming:Sweden
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Language:English, Swedish
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Saleen Gomani is a 28-year old non-binary film director originally from Vancouver, Canada. Saleen currently resides in Stockholm, Sweden where they study fine arts at the Royal Institute of Arts, freelance in the film industry as 1st AD and work part-time as a film instructor for teens. Saleen's stories usually centre around black pleasure, desire, intimacy, gender and trauma!
Charm was more about the process than the content. I decided to make this project after nearly two years of writer's block. I realised that I needed to make a film that was pleasurable, fun and entertaining for everyone involved - as well as for myself. I was sick and tired of getting stuck in perfectionism and not being able to play with film as I once did.
So, as soon as I came up with this idea, I gathered friends and acquaintances (whom are now new friends!), and together we made this film. Looking back, I now see how our actions in the film are a mockery of the white cis-upper class. The backdrop is a commentary of the perfect little red Swedish house where we're never invited. The space is not really ours, but the community we create within it, makes it ours, it allows us to take over, and play, laugh, and be free. This film is about how black queers find pleasure through community.
It's important to say that there are no cis-people in the cast, so please do not assume anyone's gender. This is most likely the first short film in Sweden to feature an all-black trans & non-binary cast.