Abdurrahman Öner

Rabid

When, in his eagerness to make a fast buck, MURAT discovers that he has been scammed, he is incensed and longs for revenge. But he will have to face the consequences of his decisions.

SYNOPSIS

MURAT advertises direct sales on a TV channel. His friend ŞAHİN, a real estate agent, speaks about an unmissable opportunity. He says that the municipality will build a cultural centre, and the shanties in that area will increase in value at least ten times more. Şahin talks about a poor family living in that area and buying their shanty. With the guidance of Şahin, Murat borrows money from his sister and purchases one of the shanties for a price about three times more than its actual value. When Murat goes to the municipality, he realises that he is defrauded. The municipality is building the cultural centre in another district. Murat is very angry with Şahin for deceiving him. He starts looking for Şahin everywhere but cannot find him. He starts drinking heavily and gets drunk. He is determined to kill Şahin. Murat wakes up in the morning on a pile of sand at a construction site and goes home. The next day, Murat hears that Şahin is in intensive care in the hospital. Şahin was found in front of a construction site. Murat starts to feel suspicious. Did Murat throw Şahin down the construction site, or did Şahin commit suicide? Murat visits Şahin's house. He realises that Şahin also bought the other shanty and was also defrauded. Realising that Şahin is not the one fooling him, did Murat throw his innocent friend out of construction for the sake of money? This suspicion begins to gnaw at him. His brother-in-law and his older sister want their money back from Murat. He has to give his sister the house he is living in. When Murat starts having trouble with his job, he is fired, and his last hope of finding the money disappears. Then he has to move to the shanty house that he bought. The rumours of a rabid dog walking around the neighbourhood gradually become a wave of fear. Bitten by his ambition of making money the easy way, Murat is increasingly swung in his clash with his conscience. He becomes aggressive like a rabid dog.

DIRECTOR
Abdurrahman Öner

PRODUCER
Arzu Şenses

PRODUCTION COMPANY
Mandolin Film

COUNTRY
Turkey

Abdurrahman Öner

ABDURRAHMAN ÖNER has directed ten short films and documentaries between 2006-2012. His short films and documentaries were in competition at more than 200 international festivals and received over 80 international awards. His short film VANISHED INTO BLUE (2012) has 24 awards in Belgrade, Tangiers, Antalya, and Adana. ROAD TO MOON (2018) feature film was screened in important festivals such as Istanbul FF’ Adana FF and Malatya FF, Balkan Panorama FF and won 5 awards, including Best Film and Best Script. RABID (2022) got the Culture and Ministry fund and the Antalya Film Fund Award at Antalya FF, including Cash Prize and Post Production Award and TRT 12 Punto, Script Days 2023, Cinelink co-production market award. He acted as a jury member in national and international film festivals like Sarajevo International Film Festival, Transilvania International Film Festival, etc. He is one of the founders of Buhar Film and Mandolin Film. He directed many commercials at Buhar Film. At Kadis Has University, Sinematek, Sineplus Academy and since 2019, Okan University, he has been giving Directing, DOP, Script Writing, Editing and Post-production courses.


RABID is the story of our main character, MURAT, who wants to defraud a poor family to make money the easy way. In the name of Murat's ambition to earn money the easy way, I have adopted a narrative in which we define the first step he takes for this cause as a bite. Following that, we see all stages of rabies in our character, both emotionally and (partly) physically in our character. The reason for this is that I wanted to reconcile the ambition of making more money, which the new world order imposed on us, with rabies, a deadly disease that enters the body, and to define a conscientious death. The direct sales from television scenes, which are the work of our character, contain comedy elements (which are absurd in places). I also plan to increase the richness of drama-comedy with the situational comedy elements provided by the daily events embedded in the film's drama. I think of reminding those absurd situations that we all encounter but are not entirely conscious of, with the dialogues that come from everyday life and are extended by taking unexpected directions. While establishing this ancient and universal story, I planned to provide a more layered narrative by bringing the sense of curiosity brought by the story together with the sense of conscience, which is the basis of the story, in a spiral. In addition, with the situation comedy scenes we see, I aim to establish a breath for the audience.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Arzu Senses

ARZU ŞENSES studied Cinema at Ege University and took a Cinema master’s degree at Beykent University. She was the producer of VANISHED INTO BLUE (2012) short film that attracted great attention at national and international festivals. It received 24 awards from festivals, including important festivals such as Belgrade, Tangiers, Antalya, and Adana. ROAD TO MOON (2018) feature film was screened in important festivals such as Istanbul FF, Adana FF, Malatya FF, Balkan Panorama FF and won 5 awards, including Best Film and Best Script. RABID (2022) got the fund of Culture and Ministry and also got the Antalya Film Fund Award at Antalya FF (2022), including Cash Prize and Post-Production Award and TRT 12 Punto, Script Days 2023, Cinelink co-production market award. She was the producer of the documentary NEVER WITHOUT MY CHILD. She is one of the founders of Buhar Film and Mandolin Film. She produced many commercials at Buhar Film.

Production company profile

MANDOLIN FILM was established in Istanbul. Our directors were in competition at more than 200 international festivals and got over 80 international awards. In addition, the company made six commercial films. The company made the documentary NEVER WITHOUT MY CHILD. Also, the company was the producer of the short film BROKEN EGG (2015). Short film VANISHED INTO BLUE (2012) has 24 awards, like Belgrad, Tangiers, Antalya, and Adana. ROAD TO MOON (2018) feature film was screened in important festivals such as Istanbul FF, Adana FF, Malatya FF, Balkan Panorama FF and won 5 awards, including Best Film and Best Script. Now at Amazon Prime Video. RABID (2022) got the fund of Culture and Ministry and also got the Antalya Film Fund Award at Antalya FF (2022), including Cash Prize and Post-Production Award and TRT 12 Punto, Script Days 2023, Cinelink co-production market award.

Where are we at?

TOTAL ESTIMATED BUDGET
550.000 EUR

FINANCES IN PLACE
195.000 EUR

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