Birthday boy Brwa Vahabpour, director from The Norwegian Film School pitched his fiction film project "Silence".

SILENCE (working title) (FIC)
In a village In Kurdistan lives, Maria (8) on a farm with her parents, five siblings and many animals. Maria has a striking singing voice and often performs in front of big crowds. One day she catches a seemingly harmless fever. For three weeks Maria suffers from pain and the fewer eventually infects her ear and takes away her ability to hear.

The jury consisting of: Marja Pyykkö (FI), Izer Aliu (NO), Jørgen Lerdam (DK), Madeleine Ekman (SE) and Wendy Mitchell (UK), states:
"The director’s short film showed us his can touch on big topics with a light touch. We look forward to see how he can take such a personal family history and tell a universal story."