Mantra
Noisia
2016 / 4:09 min
Mantra chronicles the dangerous obstacles that refugees and migrants face on their journeys to reach safer harbours.
Music Video | Documentary | Original Story | Filmed August 21 - 27, 2016 | Film Alexa Mini | 1920x1080 | 16:9 | Colour | Location Siculiana - Porto Empedocle, Sicily, Italy, Rotterdam, the Netherlands | Premiere October 11, 2016, Youtube & Vimeo
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Reach Youtube 1.6M+ | Vimeo 85K+
Best Experimental Film My Hero International Film Festival 2017, Santa Monica, USA | Best Music Video DNBA Drum and Bass Arena Awards 2017, London, UK | Vimeo Staff Pick 2016
Directed by Sil van der Woerd | Producer Oak Motion Pictures, Trent, Charlotte Scott-Wilson | Line Producers Angelo Schuurmans, Giuseppe Contario | Dir. of Photography Emo Weemhoff | Art Director Romke Faber | Dancers Juersson Hermanus, Suzana Gomes, Mohamed Yusuf Boss | Camera Ass’t / Focus Puller Alyssa van Veen | Data Handler Boyd Bakema | Gaffer Stan Widdershoven | Best Boy Hidde Muskee | First AD Andrej Kraus | Production Ass’t Demi Plettenburg, Roberta Caruana | Art Ass’t Bart Joling | Migrant Coordinator Hamdan Suweid | Wardrobe Fleur Enderberg | Dresser Daphne Jonas | Choreography House of Makers, Peter Leung, Matthew Pawlick-Sinclair | Runner Femke de Bruijn | Location Get Wet Maritiem, Ben | Concept Sil van der Woerd | Edit Sil van der Woerd | Compositing Storm Post Production, Jack Kuiper, Luuk Meijer | Grade Daphne Maierna | Music “Mantra” by Noisia | Label Vision Recordings | Thanks To Elmar Noteboom | Thank You Refugees and Migrants, it was a privilege and honour to work with you | Made With Support From Tax Videoclipfonds | All Rights Reserved 2016 Noisia, Sil van der Woerd
About The Project
In 2016, there were many stories in the news about refugees and migrants arriving in Europe. Most of these stories were told from a political or dramatic angle.
When we met these people in person, we above all encountered kindness and strength. We set out to tell a powerful story about the risks that they were willing to take to reach safety or a better living standard.
We filmed the video for Dutch Drum and Bass act Noisia in Sicily in Italy, and in the Netherlands in a special pool where we recreated the dangerous boat scenes.
Except two of the three dancers and the two cops, all the people portrayed in the video are actual refugees from Syria, and migrants from Afghanistan, Ghana, Mali, Nigeri and Somalia. Some fled from wars, others had economic reasons.
Production
When we filmed the migrants in Sicily, they had arrived to the European main land just days earlier. All of them spent some part of their journey on a boat. Some 'only' a few hours, others as long as 7 days, often without enough water and food. Some were witness to their friends or family drowning during the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea.
During production we shared several dinners with the migrants and they would share their stories which were often daggers to the heart. They were often mixed with stories of joy.
The painting featured in the video is made by Syrian refugee Khattar Shaheen.
