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His Trembling Hands: An Immigrant Ghost Story

After emigrating to Australia, a traditional Turkish man collides with his idealist wife as the ghosts of his dead parents set him free from an isolated, defeated existence.

  • Matthew Keisoglu
    Director
    It Comes From
  • Matthew Keisoglu
    Writer
    It Comes From
  • Ramin Iranfar
    Producer
    Shadows of the Land
  • Serkan Tokgoz
    Key Cast
    "Mehmet"
  • Kim Ozalp
    Key Cast
    "Aylin"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Horror, Fantasy, Drama
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 46 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 11, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    2,016 AUD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia
  • Language:
    English, Turkish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Deakin University
  • 2019/2020 Deakin FTVA Honours screening
    Melbourne
    Australia
    March 14, 2021
    Head of School Award
Director Biography - Matthew Keisoglu

Matthew Keisoglu was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Armenian parents from a Turkish background. Having studied his Bachelor and Honours in Film, Matthew is interested in the avant-garde, experimental and the horror genre. He wishes to create work that blends these weird aesthetic genres and styles alongside his Armenian/Turkish background, focusing on mixing sociocultural stories with supernatural events.

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Director Statement

This film is an art/fantasy/drama with elements of horror. His Trembling Hands: An Immigrant Ghost Story is a poignant reflection of immigrant men and women who struggle to assimilate into Western lands. My film aims to capture the mental anguish, acculturation issues, and spousal dramas that arise when Turkish immigrants emigrate into Western lands that they feel disillusioned and distant in. Using concepts of ghosts and their visitant, immaterial and non-corporeal nature, I aim to explore the isolated and disillusioned migrant experience, particular to my character Mehmet. In the same vein that the ghosts of my film appear and disappear in a flash, their unanchored qualities are carried to Mehmet, who finds himself disconnected to a foreign country.

I've chosen to explore how the migrant clings onto the remnants of his past, holding onto the native places and people that he once recognised. These ghosts serve as metaphors for an inability to progress, whether it be ghosts that return to the world of the living, or Mehmet's inability to assimilate. Through the nostalgia and reminiscence of a dusty, old photo album, I aim to represent ghosts that are not vengeful spirits, but distant figures from a better time.