Short Film

Victim

When compassion confronts obedience.

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Country
Türkiye
Genre
Drama
Project Status
Distribution & Sales
Runtime
02:23
Language
Silent / No Dialogue
AD1 Role
Production company
VICTIM a short film by Bahman Radan

FILM PROFILE

LOGLINE

A young boy risks everything to save his goat from being sacrificed on Eid al-Adha, challenging tradition and confronting his father's will.

Format
Short Film
Status
Distribution & Sales
Production Year
2023
Runtime
02:23
Country of Production
Türkiye
Filming Locations
Türkiye
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Silent / No Dialogue
Subtitles
Not Applicable
Image
Colour
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Sound
Stereo
Exhibition Formats
Digital File
Delivery Formats
Digital Screening File; Festival Screener Available Upon Request
Public Status
Released — publicly available online
Premiere Status
Festival screenings have taken place.
Festival Strategy
International festival record established. Current submission activity: NEEDS CONFIRMATION.
AD1 FILM Role
Production company
Production Companies
AD1 FILM

SHORT SYNOPSIS

A young boy’s bond with his beloved goat is threatened by an approaching Eid al-Adha sacrifice. Through silence and compassion, he challenges inherited tradition and confronts his father’s authority.

SYNOPSIS

In the shadow of unyielding traditions, a pure bond exists between a young boy and his only friend — a gentle goat. But an approaching ritual threatens to end this innocent connection.

Refusing to submit to his father’s authority and the weight of inherited beliefs, the boy takes an unimaginable step to protect the life he loves.

Told entirely through silence, Victim explores the conflict between obedience and compassion, questioning the boundaries of tradition, empathy, and the value we place on living beings.

THEMES

Compassion versus obedience; Animal rights; Childhood innocence; Inherited traditions; Father-son relationship; Ethical conflict; Human-animal bond; Silence as cinematic language; Empathy across species

KEYWORDS

Compassion versus obedienceAnimal rightsChildhood innocenceInherited traditionsFather-son relationshipEthical conflictHuman-animal bondSilence as cinematic languageEmpathy across species
Bahman Radan

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY

Bahman Radan

Bahman Radan is an Iranian writer, director and producer whose films examine moral choice, compassion and the relationship between people and other living beings. His work often uses concise narratives, silence and visual storytelling to place ethical conflict within ordinary situations.

His films include Victim (2023), Return (2024), That Also Breathes (2022), Circle (2022), Smoking Kills But Not You (2022), Smile and Childhood Dream. His work has been presented at festivals and cultural events across Europe, Asia and the Americas.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

I made Victim around Eid al-Adha, in the shadow of a ritual many people inherit before they ever question it: sacrificing an animal in the hope that a wish will be granted, a fear lifted, or misfortune kept away.

I was not interested in attacking belief from the outside. I wanted to ask a simpler, more painful question: what happens when a child sees the life in front of him before he sees the tradition around it?

The boy has no language of philosophy, religion or protest. He has attachment, instinct and love. To him, the goat is not an object prepared for a ceremony, but a living companion that trusts him. He resists not because he understands the world better than the adults, but because he has not yet learned to separate compassion from obedience.

I chose to tell the story without dialogue because the violence at its centre does not need explanation. Rituals come with words, justifications and inherited meanings; fear does not. Silence brings us closer to both the life that cannot speak for itself and the child’s inner conflict.

For me, Victim begins with a simple belief: at the moment of suffering, pain does not belong to one species, and fear does not need a language. Through the boy’s act of protection, I wanted to question the ease with which living beings become symbols, offerings or answers to our own anxieties.

The film asks whether a tradition can remain meaningful when it requires us to stop seeing the life directly in front of us.

Bahman Radan
Director

Bahman Radanfar

PRODUCER BIOGRAPHY

Bahman Radanfar

Bahman Radan is an Iranian filmmaker working as a writer, director and producer. His production practice is closely connected to the development of his own independent films, allowing creative decisions to remain consistent from the screenplay through production and post-production.

His work often begins with a concise moral or emotional conflict and develops through visual storytelling, controlled production structures and short-form cinema. As the producer of Victim, Radan oversaw a minimalist production designed around the relationship between a child and an animal, with the story communicated entirely without dialogue.

His filmography includes Victim, Return, That Also Breathes, Circle, Smoking Kills But Not You, Smile and Childhood Dream.

PRODUCER’S STATEMENT

Producing Victim meant resisting the urge to explain too much. The story rests on a boy, a goat and a decision that has to be understood before it is discussed. We kept the film brief and without dialogue so that the child’s attachment, and the danger he senses, could remain at the centre.

Our aim was not to turn the film into an argument against belief. It was to create a situation in which the audience first sees a living being and then confronts the ritual surrounding it. Every production choice had to protect that tension.

For me, the value of the film lies in its simplicity: a small story, told without dialogue, asking what we choose when obedience and compassion pull in opposite directions.

Bahman Radan
Producer

VISUAL APPROACH

Victim is filmed from within the child’s experience of the story. The handheld camera stays close to him and the goat, allowing movement, glances and physical reactions to communicate what the characters never say aloud.

Natural light was used to preserve the reality of the location and avoid giving the story an overly designed or theatrical appearance. The images remain direct and physically immediate, reflecting the child’s growing fear and the urgency of his attempt to protect the animal.

The film’s short running time leaves no space for visual decoration. Each shot serves the relationship between the boy and the goat or moves the story closer to the child’s decision.

Silence was part of the film from the screenplay stage. Music and sound design create tension around that silence, but do not interpret the characters’ emotions for the audience. In Victim, the absence of dialogue keeps attention on bodies, gestures and the life at risk.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Victim is a silent short drama produced by AD1 FILM in Türkiye and completed on 25 June 2023. The film has a running time of 2 minutes and 23 seconds.

The decision to tell the story without dialogue was made during the screenplay stage. Rather than explaining the conflict through words, the film relies on the child’s behaviour, his relationship with the goat and the increasing pressure created by the approaching sacrifice.

The film was shot primarily with a handheld camera and natural light. This approach allowed the camera to remain physically close to the child and gave the images an immediate, unpolished quality suited to the urgency of the story. The production avoided elaborate visual setups so that attention remained on the performers, the animal and the child’s decision.

Although the characters do not speak, music and sound design remain part of the film’s dramatic structure. They support the tension without replacing the silence at the centre of the story.

The goat was handled with care throughout the production. No animal was harmed during filming.

CAST & CREW

Bahman Radan Direction — Director · Production — Producer · Cinematography — Camera Bahman Radan Sara Moradi is an Iranian screenwriter and producer whose work is shaped by her interest in psychology and the human condition. Her stories explore hidden motivations and the complex choices people face, often focusing on character-driven narratives at pivotal moments. Writing — Writer Sara Moradi Zahra Radanfar Editing — Editor · Editing — Colour / Light Correction Zahra Radanfar
Direction — Director
Bahman Radan
Writing — Writer
Sara Moradi
Production — Producer
Bahman Radan
Cinematography — Camera
Bahman Radan
Casting — Cast
Ramazan Uzun
Casting — Cast
Ramazan Öğüt
Music — Composer / Sound Designer
Siavash Beigi
Editing — Editor
Zahra Radanfar
Editing — Colour / Light Correction
Zahra Radanfar

FILM STILLS

Victim — FILM STILLS Victim — FILM STILLS Victim — FILM STILLS Victim — FILM STILLS Victim — FILM STILLS Victim — FILM STILLS

BEHIND THE SCENES

Victim — BEHIND THE SCENES

FESTIVAL SELECTIONS, AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

PRESS & MEDIA

INDUSTRY PROFILES

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