100 women take part in short film “Prey” to highlight street harassment in Paris

100 women star in director Acim Vasic’s latest short film “Prey” to highlight the impact of harassment and the fear they go through when facing male stalkers, and cat-calling in the street.

The film centres around a male character who begins to stalk a young woman one evening in the Montmartre district of Paris, but as he goes through the motions and follows her through the narrow cobble streets, an unexpected turn of events draws him into a situation he did not expect.

"Prey" begins to tackle a theme that has received international prominence following the rise of the #MeToo movement, and has gained wide support for highlighting the inequality between sexes that is often prevalent in our society.

Short film Prey

“Prey” takes the perspective of sexual harassment from another point of view and puts the harasser into the victim’s shoes. Speaking with Film Industry Network, Vasic said, “It was filmed in a metaphorical way, with a few very symbolical shots, made without dialogue and music in order to immerse us totally in the atmosphere of empty Parisian streets late at night.”

Prior to the shoot, the director along with his production team shared the concept of the script with many women who themselves had spoken privately about what they had been through.

“They told me unimaginable stories, from the most horrific traumatic experiences such as rape attempts, rapes, pickpocketing and cat-calling,” said Vasic.

“It made me think that us ‘men’ live in another dimension where we can’t even imagine how unpleasant and scary it is for many women on daily basis to face these traumas.”

Vasic, who filmed critically acclaimed short film ‘8’ wanted his latest project to demonstrate what it meant for many women to face these experiences in the street, without using violence to tell the story.

The director also wanted “Prey” to avoid imposing a point of view on the audience, and instead allowing viewers to be drawn into the situation themselves where they could feel the effects and make their own judgments.

Short film projects like “Prey” often don’t get the attention they deserve and it’s projects like these that give people different perspectives outside of the mainstream narrative, with powerful messages.

“Prey” is currently being submitted to film festivals and was produced by Bridges Films. To find out more about the movie visit the official Twitter account for the latest updates.

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