Love and murder - Swedish Film Institute

a study of
human behaviour
editor and director ahang Bashi
explores the similarity between
documentary film and social
anthropology.
ahang bashi is a recent graduate in documentary
filmmaking from the stockholm academy of
dramatic arts. editor and assistant director of The
Case Officer, a film about an officer at the swedish
migration board, bashi mixes the roles of
documentary filmmaker and editor. but she
originally planned to be a social anthropologist.
“social anthropology and documentary filmmaking
have a lot in common. both of them are a study
of human behaviour. but the world of academia
didn't suit me. friends introduced me to documentaries
and i fell immediately for the creative
aspects. since then i haven't looked back.”
What do you want to achieve with your films?
“i make them because i want to be part of
something good in society. i want to contribute
towards a more open world in which people
understand each other and can put themselves in
other people's positions. that's something that
documentaries have definitely helped with. i want
my films to move people and influence them, but
not necessarily to start a revolution. after my film
Paradise (Paradiset, 2009), about my grandmother
in an old people's home, was broadcast on
television lots of people enrolled as volunteers and
now she has more visitors every week. if you can
make something like that happen, you know you're
on the right track.” n
The Case Officer
shaon chakraborTY
anna persson
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