Private Project

The Window

Logline:
An elderly woman begins to see her past through the window of her family home. She must confront life's choices and missed opportunities before the window closes forever.

Synopsis:

"The Window" is a poignant short film that takes viewers on a journey through the life of Vivian, an elderly woman who revisits her past through the metaphor of a window in her family home. As a child, the window represented a world of magic and boundless possibility. But over the years, societal and familial pressures slowly blocked her view, keeping her from living the life she truly wanted. Now, as Vivian looks back on her choices, she begins to confront the limitations that influenced her decisions. Faced with the weight of her past, she wonders whether it's possible to reopen the window once more and live her life differently.

  • Nabat Shir (Durnabat Atagarryyeva)
    Director
  • Nabat Shir
    Writer
  • Kelly Fulford
    Producer
  • Mallory Ivy
    Key Cast
    "Vivian"
  • Jared Polivka
    Key Cast
    "Brian"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, Romance, Magical Realism
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 52 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 29, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    11,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, Arri Mini
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.55:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - SCAD
  • City of Angels Women's Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Best Female Director
  • The Sipontum Arthouse International Film Festival
    Manfredonia
    Italy
    Best Screenplay (short film)
  • The Sipontum Arthouse International Film Festival
    Manfredonia
    Italy
    Best Cinematography (short film)
Director Biography - Nabat Shir (Durnabat Atagarryyeva)

Nabat Shir is a groundbreaking director, writer, producer, and actress from Turkmenistan, making history as the first filmmaker from her country to premiere a film in Los Angeles. Her award-winning short film The Window made its world premiere in October 2024 at two Hollywood festivals: the City of Angels Women's Film Festival and the 20th Annual LA Femme International Film Festival. Nabat is passionate about creating films that leave a lasting impact through refined visual aesthetics, subtle sound design, complex, multi-dimensional characters, and philosophical depth. In her pursuit of new narrative forms to craft a profoundly emotional experience for audiences, she seeks to expand the potential of cinema through a highly creative approach to storytelling.

For her work on The Window, Nabat received the Best Female Director Award at the 2024 City of Angels Women's Film Festival.

Nabat is also the first filmmaker from Turkmenistan to win the prestigious Fulbright Grant—an esteemed U.S. government program that has fostered mutual understanding through international exchange for over 75 years. She holds an MFA in Film and Television from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and is an alumna of the Edmund S. Muskie Professional Fellowship Program.

The Window has garnered significant acclaim, being highlighted as one of the year's outstanding films by the SCAD Awards Department and submitted to prestigious film festivals, including the Student Academy Awards, EMMYS, and DGA Student Film Awards 2024. Supported by a grant from the Muskie Program, "The Window" won three awards at the Sipontum Arthouse International Film Festival in the Summer 2024 Edition: Best Screenplay (Short Film) - Nabat Shir, Best Cinematography (Short Film) - Yuuki Shimizu, and Best Sound Design - Mark Otim.

"The Window" is also notable for its award-winning team:
Mark Otim, Emmy Award (2023) and Red Dot Award-winning Sound Designer, won Best Sound Design for The Window at SAIFF. Marina Ortega Mira, the composer, added emotional depth to The Window. She has worked with the Emmy-winning Bleeding Fingers Music collective, founded by Hans Zimmer, and contributed to projects for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and 20th Century Studios. She is a recipient of the Fulbright scholarship and the ASCAP Harold Arlen Film & TV Award. Yuuki Shimizu, the cinematographer, was awarded Best Cinematography (Short Film) for The Window at SAIFF. He is also the winner of the Los Angeles Cinematography Awards and Five Continents International Film Festival. He received three awards at The One Club for Creativity’s Young Ones Awards 2023. He has also been recognized at Chicago Shorts, and Savannah Film Festival. Haley Breese, the editor, is an award-winning talent recognized with the Katie Spikes Scholarship by the Savannah Film Festival.

The "Mimi Meets Mio" Spec Ad, directed by Nabat for Mio (Kraft Heinz), won a Bronze Pencil at The One Club for Creativity’s Young Ones Awards in 2024. This prestigious award ceremony, held in New York City, is part of The One Club for Creativity, which is regarded as the most prestigious organization in the advertising and design industry, boasting over 50 years of history. Her commercial "Privacy Trees" for Ray Lawns, which Nabat directed, wrote, and produced, aired on television in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA.

Nabat's earlier short film "Creator" was shot as part of the 48 Hours Film Race in 2020, when she was a self-taught aspiring filmmaker. It was nominated and included among the Top 48 Best Short Films in Central Asia, where Nabat served as director, producer, writer, and editor.

Nabat started her creative journey in 2016 by founding ARGACH FILMS, a video and photo production studio. Her diverse portfolio features works such as "When Mom Hugs" short, "The Secret of Success" pilot for a talk show, various commercials, and the music video "To Mother" for the Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Rovshen Nepesov. The emotional response from audiences, such as the tears shed while watching the film, confirmed for Nabat that she had found her calling.

Nabat is passionate about creating films that leave a lasting impact through refined visual aesthetics, subtle sound design, complex, multi-dimensional characters, and philosophical depth. In her pursuit of new narrative forms to craft a profoundly emotional experience for audiences, she seeks to expand the potential of cinema through a creative approach to storytelling.

Shir enjoys sharing narratives centered on women, advocating for the amplification of female perspectives in storytelling.

Awards & Recognitions

Best Female Director – The Window short film
(Directed, Written, and Produced by Nabat)
City of Angels Women's Film Festival, 2024

Best Screenplay (short film) – Nabat Shir - The Window
The Sipontum Arthouse International Film Festival, 2024

Best Cinematography (short film) -Yuuki Shimizu, Best Sound Design - Mark Otim – The Window
(Directed, Written, and Produced by Nabat)
The Sipontum Arthouse International Film Festival, 2024

Bronze Pencil – The Mimi Meets Mio Spec Ad (Directed by Nabat for Mio, Kraft Heinz)
The One Club for Creativity’s Young Ones Awards, 2024

Fulbright Grant 2021 - 2024

Edmund S. Muskie Professional Fellowship Program 2023

Top 48 Best Short Films in Central Asia – Creator short film
(Directed, Produced, Written, and Edited by Nabat)
48 Hours Film Race, 2020

First Place – Turkmenistan Youth Poetry Competition

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Inspired by the arthouse films of Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, David Lynch, Orson Welles, and Federico Fellini, I aspired to craft a film that would engage viewers in a profound philosophical dialogue, encouraging them to deeper self-analysis and reflection on life. As a female filmmaker, my intention was to present a nuanced and authentic portrayal of womanhood, addressing themes of abuse and betrayal within familial relationships, often veiled in societal silence. I embarked on a quest for a visual language that would serve as a metaphor that would also invite the audience to reflect on the decisions they made during pivotal periods in their lives.

The concept of the "Window" metaphor emerged during a heartfelt conversation with a friend of mine about how a woman at different periods of her life can see completely different things when looking out the same window. An ordinary window acquired the image of a separate character, on the one hand serving as a mirror of the protagonist's inner turmoil, and on the other hand, showing the outside world, which remains beautiful as before, but which she does not notice. It was in that moment that the seed of a philosophical discourse was sown, inviting viewers to delve into the poignant narrative about an elderly woman who regrets that she did not live her life the way she wanted, having noticed the beauty of life too late.

I was excited by the poetry of this idea and the question arose of how to achieve an impressive immersion of the viewer in the poetic revelation of the events taking place in the life of the main character. I decided to invite the viewer to live through the protagonist’s emotions and make discoveries with her, immersing them in living poetic reality with the help of sequence shots.

I was fortunate to discover the brilliant actors Mallory Ivy and Jared Polivka, with whom impromptu rehearsals were conducted and I wrote the dialogues on the go. My aim was for their individual personalities to seamlessly integrate into the roles of the characters, ensuring authenticity in their portrayals. Witnessing their chemistry evolve during the initial rehearsal as they embodied the roles of Vivian and Brian my heart was pounding with delight, as I anticipated the audience experiencing the same chemistry while watching the film.