Still: Pariah - Edson da Conceicao

Edson da Conceicao’s horror/thriller Pariah was inspired by a shocking video that went viral a few years ago, recorded on a mobile phone and depicting an attack by local Dutch residents on a house occupied by a Syrian refugee family.

“There was something horrifying about it,” the director tells See NL.

“I can remember that feeling of how it must be if you're new in The Netherlands, and this is the first thing that happens to you as a family. From there on, I wanted to recreate that same feeling that they were experiencing. I wanted to create a movie totally from the perspective of that family.”

In Pariah, selected for Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Fest, Samuel, Sarah and their teenage daughter Faith have arrived from Ghana where he had previously exposed corruption in the local police force. Soon, Samuel’s instincts are once more on high alert as weird and oppressive stuff begins to happen. Dog muck is continually left on the patio of the new house, and he hears movements downstairs at night. During the daytime, a motorcyclist seems to target Samuel with their aggressive driving. He even gets brief glimpses of strange ghostly characters loitering on the premises.

Is he going mad? His wife and daughter begin to suspect so, especially after he dismisses all of his neighbours’ seemingly friendly overtures and offers of charity. After he boards up the windows of the house, he begins to calm a little, until the family’s new-found happiness is once more shattered by the mysterious appearance of a cupcake, one that is very much laced with danger.

Little by little, it becomes obvious to Sarah and Faith that Samuel’s fears about the neighbourhood may not be without foundation…

The film, written by Philip Delmaar, is about prejudice, violence and discrimination, and because it is a horror/thriller the sense of threat is dialled up to the max. 

Da Conceicao was born in The Netherlands but he recognises the endemic, condescending, below-the-radar prejudice that can exist within the country. Actor Emmanuel Ohene Boafo, who plays Samuel, also acknowledged the pervasive bias that the film was describing, as well as the exasperating experience of being continually gaslit. “It captures the feeling of being discriminated against, but you can’t put your finger on it. There aren't cues that are so obvious, so ‘on the nose’…but you are still feeling it even if you don't have proof,” da Conceicao recalls the actor’s response.

Pariah, which has its International Premiere at Fantaspoa, was produced by Nicky Onstenk and Marc Bary of IJswater Films, together with broadcaster VPRO (sales handled by SKOOP Media). Its small-screen broadcast to a wide TV audience seems certain to up the ante in terms of casting a light on the serious issues it raises.

“If I was making a realistic drama, I wouldn't exaggerate it as much as I did with this film,” says da Conceicao of his approach.

“In a drama there would be more balance among the racist and non-racist white people, but this genre requires exaggeration because you need to transport the audience within the story.”

The director points out how, in 2021, the Dutch toeslagenaffaire (Dutch Child Benefits Scandal) highlighted institutional racism within the country’s benefits system which led to approximately 26,000 parents (mainly with foreign backgrounds) being wrongly accused of making fraudulent claims. The scandal toppled the government, which enabled right wing parties to gain political ground. Two years later the far-right PVV party, led by Geert Wilders, gained more seats than any other party in the House of Representatives – all of which gives Pariah extra resonance. 

"I'm curious what will happen now with foreigners/refugees in the Netherlands, now that the PVV is the biggest party in the country. I think that my film is more incendiary now than ever." da Conceicao ends.