A man falls from the sky into a deserted field with nothing but a lamb in a suitcase and an engagement ring in his pocket. Disorientated, he embarks on a city-wide journey towards his arranged marriage with a woman he has never met. The road to the protagonist’s wedding is peppered with allegorical depictions of the nature of manhood and, as foreshadowed by the bleating lamb, sacrifice. 

“The dilemmas that the protagonist faces are symbolic of loss and the choices newcomers must make when establishing an identity in foreign lands,” say Madja Amin, the film’s self-taught director. 

As the son of Iraqi-Kurdish refugees, Amin is interested in themes of belonging and identity, especially as they relate to geographical connection. “So many people are caught in a balancing act between multiple cultures and surroundings,” he says. “The quest for human connectedness is really at the heart of the narrative and I wanted to address this in a layered and complex way.”

With just three years of filmmaking experience, Amin has already made a name for himself as one of Amsterdam’s rising talents. After directing projects for brands such as KLM, Vodafone and Samsung, he partnered with the Dutch production company Halal to produce Stray Sheep—his first ever short film, which premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival last year.