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Villain

A factory worker is written as the victim in a novel by a coworker. He decides to rewrite the story.

synopsis

Mustafa (21), a sensitive worker in a chemical factory, is shaken when his colleague Bernd (63), a hobby writer, portrays him as the guy who dies first in a crime novel set in their workplace. Determined to change the story, Mustafa rewrites himself as the main protagonist seeking revenge for a colleague’s accidental death, blaming their boss. Mustafa finds an audience in the other colleagues who join in while the creative rivalry with Bernd pushes him to take increasingly radical steps. However, the story begins to spiral out of control when Bernd turns Mustafa’s alter ego into a murderer. Unable to distinguish between reality and fiction, Mustafa feels challenged to explore whether he is capable of committing murder. After forcing his way into his boss’s house resulting in violence, guilt begins to torment Mustafa. Soon, rumours spread at work that he might be involved in the supervisor’s mysterious disappearance. Mustafa must prove that he can choose a different path in order to regain control over his own narrative.

Director’statement

My father spent over 40 years working shifts in a chemical plant, but his true dream was to become a writer. As a hobby storyteller, he would craft tales in between his shifts, which he would later recount with great enthusiasm and humour. When we think of creative individuals, workers in blue overalls don’t usually come to mind. With Villain, I want to tell the story of two labourers who transform into storytellers, humorously spinning a thriller like tale with their alter egos as villain and detective. Through this story, they create a fictional world as a way to endure their daily grind and to break free of the working-class life, turning a creative rivalry into a deeper friendship. Fiction begins to blur with reality, as Mustafa embarks on a journey to explore his identity, caught between the roles of victim and criminal. Villain starts as a light-hearted journey about creative factory workers that transforms into a thriller exploring the darker facets of labour and imagination.

TFL PROGRAMME:
ScriptLab 2024

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