Tekst (smal)

IDFA Youth Competition: Shabu

Director Shamira Raphaëla talks to See NL about her documentary Shabu

Dutch director Shamira Raphaëla talks to See NL about the force of nature that is Shabu, a 14-year-old kid living in one of Rotterdam’s roughest estates, but blessed with boundless talent, entrepreneurial savvy and a ton of teenage charm. Interview by Nick Cunningham.


Shabu by Shamira Raphaëla

When Shabu (14) was grounded in 2020 for crashing his grandmother’s car, he thought that was the end of any involvement in Shamira Raphaëla’s feature doc about Rotterdam youth. But for the director it became the golden entry point into her film.

“I called his mom right away and I am like, you know what? Just give him to me for this summer because this is the film,” says Raphaëla. “She is like, all right, but he is your responsibility for the rest of the summer.”

At that point Shabu became the sole focus of Raphaëla’s film as he is forced to think up ways to pay for the repairs to car. In the process he also falls in love, maintains cool friendships, writes a great song (which is about to get a national release) and, to finally clear his debt, determines to organise a full-blown concert on the estate, including DJs, live performances and dance troupes whom he himself coaches.

The Paperclip block of flats where he lives (also the name of his cool song) may be one of Rotterdam’s most dangerous neighbourhoods, but seen through the eyes of an optimistic and care-free 14-year-old (at least if you take the car debt conundrum out of the equation) the place is bliss, especially when filmed over a long hot summer.

That said, we are reminded of how dangerous the place can be. When a neighbour tells Shabu and his best friend Jahnoah about an attack that he heard a few moments before, the pair open an elevator door to encounter a sea of fresh blood, before they decide to get on with their day.

“That is how these guys roll, right, they are teenagers. They are not going to wait around to see what is going to happen. They just go on with their lives. It was just something that happened during the day and then life goes on,” says Raphaëla.

The film, supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, was made in part to test whether there is theatrical potential for youth feature docs. Originally, the filmmaker had planned to focus on four protagonists, but when her research assistant asked around the estate for great characters to follow, just about everybody told her that the search should begin and end with Shabu, such was his local celebrity even then.

In the doc, Raphaëla gets really up close and personal with characters who obviously decided to trust her implicitly each time she pointed her camera in their direction. His scenes with his girlfriend Stephany, for example, are very touching and candid, and nor is Shabu afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. He is one lachrymose, emotional, and very lovable, kid.

“Because we made the film sort of together they felt like they also had influence over their narrative,” points out Raphaëla of subjects who are well used to 21st century tech and communications. “Which, I think is very important because a lot of times in documentaries, people do not have much agency. They are just an object of voyeurism. In this case, they know that I am filming them. It is not like I am some sort of fly on the wall. So we had a great dynamic, a great interaction with each other.”

The director has no illusions that Shabu’s prospects are limited, and that living in the Paperclip places him on the lowest rung of the social/professional ladder. “So I really hope that we, as a society, can applaud his talent and see what he can do so that he can make use of it instead of just disappearing into the margins of society,” she says. But she remains guardedly optimistic about his future, as will, one suspects, future cinema and television audiences who will soon be encountering this Rotterdam-based bundle of brilliance.

Shabu is produced by Tangerine Tree and sales are handled by Reservoir Docs.

Film: Shabu
Festival: IDFA