Riyadh Rahaman wants to entertain, educate with film

Filmmaker Riyadh Rahaman says his dream is one day to invite people to MovieTowne for the screening of his very first feature film, which will be an hour and a half long.

Rahaman has taken social media and the local film industry by storm, creating popular short comedy skits and films based on folklore. His recent work tells the story of the douen, an entity whose feet are said to be backwards and is faceless except for a small mouth.

Douens are said to be the souls of unbaptised children. It is believed that if they hear a child's name, they can call the child in a parent's voice, trying to lure them into the forest. Douens wear big, floppy straw hats to hide their faces and are known to be mischievous: they play pranks on people, raid gardens, and enjoy leading children astray until they are thoroughly lost in the woods.

Rahaman’s 15-minute-film takes the viewer to find the protagonist Steven’s little sister Emily, who has disappeared without a trace. The film took place near his Princes Town home.

The 23-year-old self-taught filmmaker spared no detail when it came to showing the douen and its abilities.

Douen was selected for last year’s Trinidad and Tobago Film and Folklore Festival, Halloween Horror Festival in London and Floripa Que Horror International Film Festival in Brazil. He said he was asked to resubmit it this year to TT’s film festival, as the organisers were partnering with MovieTowne and because of this, Douen screened at MovieTowne, Port of Spain on April 1.

In 2022 Rahaman won Best Horror Film, Best First-Time Director and Best VFX at the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival in Los Angeles. He also won Best Visual Effects at the Whistle to the Maples Horror Film Festival in Pennsylvania.

Asked why he chose the douen as his inspiration, he said, “I had done a lot of comedy sketches – and I don’t consider myself a comedian. So as a filmmaker, I wanted to try doing different genres and having different things to show my audience.”

His first horror film was released in 2018, entitled Lagahoo, after another local folklore character. The lagahoo is a shape-shifting monster that roams lonely areas stalking its prey. It is identified by a metal chain around its neck that makes noises every time it moves.

“I posted it on YouTube and I did not expect people to go crazy over it and tell me, ‘Thank you for showcasing local culture – and you have to do another one.’ I think that was consistently my most viewed video on my channel every month.”

He said he took a break from making these short films, but would constantly receive messages telling him to make another film. So he decided with his new equipment, more knowledge and further developed skills, he was ready.

“The story of the douen spoke to me when I was researching, and I wanted to make it as dark as I could and really push the boundaries of what I can do in terms of an indie horror and showcasing our folklore creatures.”

Rahaman believes entering many international film festivals is his way of introducing the world to local culture.

“I feel like it’s the step in the right direction, that in the future, if I do another folklore feature, there’s an international audience that can appreciate it too.”

Passion for filmmaking

Rahaman said he was mostly inspired by YouTuber Ryan Higa, who became famous in 2006 for his comedic sketches, in which he played most of the characters himself, and made them flow with his skilful editing.

“There are people (YouTubers) with their own communities and they upload videos in which people interact with them, and I think that inspired me to make my own comedy sketches by myself.”

He said he felt he wasn’t getting anywhere, but with encouragement from his parents, he persisted.

“It’s a hobby that grew into a passion where I realised that even if I didn’t know what it means, I wanted to make movies, this is what I want to do in the future.”

Between 2011 and 2017, he took a break from YouTube to focus on his studies at St Stephen's College, Princes Town. But still received support from his family and when he re-emerged in 2017 with his skit Don’t Lie about CXC Results, he said it took off.

“I just wanted to come back and make something new, and that video just blew up at the time, and that was the first bit of exposure I had finally gotten. I kind of just ran with it, started to make more comedy sketches, garnered a little audience, and from then on a bit of spotlight was placed on me.”

His first-ever sketch was made when he was 11, but he chose not to share it because he deemed it too private. His first public one was called The Dead Bird.

“I can’t even explain the plot to you, but it’s a video with my cousins and (me). It’s just us being idiots, and we had to do a fight scene as well, which we thought was funny, so we decided to post it.

"People still go and look at my channel to find the first video and they always go, ‘Oh, you guys were so tiny.’”

Challenges of making Douen

Rahaman said his films are mostly “do-it-yourselfers” because it’s just him, his cousins and any other family members.

“My sister, I begged her to play the douen, because she doesn’t like being on camera or getting her make-up done, and I told her it was fine, just to do this one thing for me, because I couldn’t just find another child. I also had to beg my dad to play a part for me when he got home from work with my cousin.”

He described his challenges as “creativity with limitation,” as actors, professional equipment and technical help weren’t easy to find.

“I’m just wearing all of the hats right now, I’m directing, designing the set, editing, visual effects, producing, and marketing. It’s kind of a lot to be doing. But the more soul, love and hard work I put into it, when I see the audience’s reaction at the end, it’s so much more fulfilling.”

Almost starring on Jimmy Fallon

Rahaman posted a few story time videos on his interaction with the team of popular late-night talk-show The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, but not for his filmmaking endeavours. He was asked to appear on a segment which showed out-of-the-ordinary talents: and aside from the range of his filmmaking roles, Rahaman also beatboxes while solving the Rubik’s cube.

He said after a few e-mail exchanges with Fallon’s team, he was told they were going in a different direction. He wasn't deterred.

“I guess now I can just link it back to filmmaking and storytelling in terms of people just like to see me tell my stories. People really liked this story, because they’re thinking about a Trini appearing on a very recognisable show, and I told it as best as I could.”

Future plans

Rahaman assures fans waiting to see more of his work that he is always writing and has already written material that he just needs to bring to life.

“The one thing I can say is, the next thing that I want to do is a comedy film. I haven’t done pure comedy in a while, and I feel like it’d be pretty funny. I want people who saw Douen to flip it and laugh for 15 minutes straight instead of being scared for 15 minutes."He said he sees his film as a strong and influential medium for people to be entertained and educated on local culture, and it has been used in classrooms nationwide for educational purposes.

"I think it’s a cool dynamic to have and to show people the range.

“I definitely have plans of doing folklore as well, as long as people want to see them and enjoy my take in telling the stories. I think there’s a lot of room to showcase these creatures on a big screen, because up until this point, you only hear about them from your grandma, and kids aren’t really inclined to give their full attention to it nowadays.”