Riz Ahmed’s short film The Long Goodbye is inspired by personal fears

British actor and rapper Riz Ahmed and director Aneil Karia’s short film The Long Goodbye is inspired by personal fears about rising intolerance and discrimination in the world.

The Long Goodbye incorporates music from Riz’s album by the same name and the short depicts a South Asian family in suburban London. As they prepare for a celebration, their world is turned upside down when a group of white armed men violently burst into their home.

 

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“I understand that for a lot of people, they can watch a film like this and say: ‘…you’re trying to make a political statement’, but I think it’s really a position of privilege to be able to look at someone like this and say: ‘Oh, that’s political. That’s something that just lives in the headlines,” Riz told Reuters in an interview.

“For many of us, this is very personal. Smaller versions of this really impinge on daily lives … The bigger nightmare that this film portrays is one that really keeps us up at night,” he continued.

 

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The director said he and Riz, the first Muslim to get a best actor Oscar nomination, ventured on the project after some heartfelt conversations.

“We began a series of conversations about how we felt in that particular moment in life and what it was that was charging us both creatively and as human beings,” he said.

“And through two or three kind of long conversations, we began to find this idea and start owning it.”

Read More: Riz Ahmed requests his followers to watch ‘The Long Goodbye’

Created as a wake-up call against rising intolerance, The Long Goodbye takes the viewers on a journey both intimate and devastating. The short emotionally communicates the cultural experience minorities face in an institutionally biased society. 

The Long Goodbye has been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination for Best Short film. Official nominations will be announced on February 8.