Experiencing Interruptions?

The Gift

Police bursts into the house of two immigrants. They are taken to an unknown location. A mysterious man, interrogates them. Huseyin, a compulsive liar and a cheat, denies involvement in anything criminal. Ahmet is a cold and calculated man with a dubious past who stands up for his beliefs and defies the system. As the interrogator discloses the reason for their internment, a gift-wrapped package with strange content inside, the two men realise that they are trapped in a Kafkaesque world. The film is one of the finalists of the NI Screen's Access Short Program.

  • Murat Akser
    Director
    Delicate, The Hoarder
  • Murat Akser
    Writer
    Delicate, The Hoarder
  • Darren Chesney
    Producer
    Unhappy Endings
  • Stuart Graham
    Key Cast
    Hunger
  • Curtis Lee Ashqar
    Key Cast
    Game of Thrones
  • Hayle McQuillan
    Key Cast
    Bad Day for the Cut
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Thriller
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 47 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    Ireland, United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Silk Road International Film Festival
    Dublin
    Ireland
    March 11, 2018
    Irish Premiere
    Winner - Best Short Film
Director Biography - Murat Akser

Murat Akser is a film director based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was trained as a filmmaker at Ryerson University and York University. As a cameraman he worked in independent films in Canada. His feature screenplay, The Outsiders, was selected to Sundance Scriptwriting Lab in 2015. He was invited to Talent Lab at Reykjavik Film Festival in 2016. His most recent film THE GIFT, is funded by Northern Ireland Screen under Access Shorts program.

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Director Statement

The Gift is based on a true story of two immigrants arrested and questioned by the police because they received an unknown package in the mail. It actually happened to us, me and my roommate who were living both as recent immigrants in Toronto, Canada. One day police knocked on the door and took us to an unknown place where we were questioned about the contents of a package that had our address on it. If I had not discovered that this was a love spell sent by my friends fiancee, we could have been arrested and sent to Guantanamo. So this simple mistake or misunderstanding on the police's part gave me the inspiration to tell the story of millions of immigrants out there who everyday experience prejudice and discrimination.