Céline Roustan
Away from his family back in Burkina Faso, with his marriage on the rocks, Ousmane has been feeling homesick more than ever lately. As Montreal’s winter becomes even harsher, his daily routine is upended when his path crosses with that of an confused elderly neighbor. With Ousmane, writer/director Jorge Camarotti takes a poignant snapshot of the immigrant experience, unveiling an unexpected universality within the specificities of its narrative.
Throughout it’s 25-minute duration, Camarotti’s short tackles two major themes: the life of an immigrant and the condition of vulnerable elderly people in our society. Curious to know what prompted Camarotti to tackle those two such deeply nuanced topics in one narrative, the filmmaker confesses that having left his native Brazil to immigrate to Canada, his own experience inspired the character of Ousmane. He also credits the Exodus photography exhibition, about migration, by fellow Brazilian Sebastião Salgado as an influence on his short, explaining that “his work opened my eyes; I was never the same after that”. Years later, as an immigrant himself, Salgado’s work impacted him even deeper. Channeling those feelings creatively, he added “Ousmane’s story came to me as a way to try to regain some sort of control over my life. At least in a fictitious way.”
Opening with an incredibly effective exposition, Ousmane begins with a phone call that subtly paints its central (titular) character’s emotional state. As an immigrant, missing the big moments back home, happy or sad, is when your homesickness usually sneaks up on you and paired with a certain sense of guilt of having left everyone behind, the resulting emotions can be devastating. The rest of the exposition isn’t rushed and as we get familiar with Ousmane and his environment, the narrative is actually dictated by his reactions. When his run in with Edith shakes him from his status quo, the film’s pacing picks up as witness Ousmane now having found a purpose and we begin to get a sense of the inner peace he feels in providing help to someone. It’s almost like he began the film in a dormant state and only became active after encountering Edith.
“I hope to share a deeply personal story that I believe resonates with a lot of people like myself, who had to leave behind their relatives and friends, hoping to find a safe harbor in a new country” – Jorge Camarotti
With the short’s most impactful moments left unspoken, it’s the visual language of the film that speaks louder than the characters’ lines. Getting a good grasp of Ousmane’s surroundings was paramount in building the emotional arc of the story, so with his DP, Nicolas Canniccioni, Camarotti combined a digital camera with vintage lenses (RED Monstro 8K combined with vintage 35mm Canon lenses) with the aim of providing a “deeper sense of depth despite the very small locations”. It’s an effective approach, as it works perfectly in echoing the loneliness of both Ousmane and Edith
Issaka Sawadogo’s (Re-entry) performance as Ousmane hits all the nuances of Camarotti’s screenplay. He occupies most of the frame in many of the film’s sequences and as the narrative unravels he convincingly conveys his character’s inner turmoil, as he tries to make sense of it all, using only his facial expressions and the look in his eyes . Props also need to be given to Marie-Ginette Guay who brings Edith to life in a very sensitive and compelling way, steering clear of the heavy handed tropes that could have easily been distracting and jeopardized the authenticity of the film.
With its World Premiere at the 2021 edition of TIFF, followed by an International Premiere in Clermont-Ferrand, Ousmane went on to have a remarkable festival career which included Oscar Qualifying Awards at Aspen and Indy Shorts and also earned Camarotti a second Canadian Screen Awards nomination. He is currently working on his feature debut Edith, which got him selected at the 2021 TIFF Labs for development.