The short film, produced by Ozasir Kacar and her sister, was inspired by her PhD research. That research focused on female entrepreneurs in the Netherlands and Turkiye, including women with migration backgrounds and women from different religious and ethnic backgrounds. Through life stories, she studied how societal, institutional and political structures can both enable and limit women. ‘Those structures are often shaped by patriarchy, ethnic and religious norms or gendered expectations about what women should do and how they should behave’, explains the researcher.
Passive observers or women with agency?
‘In research on migration and entrepreneurship, these women are often heavily victimized, as if oppressive structures simply dictate their choices,’ says Ozasir Kacar. ‘But women aren’t just passive observers, they have a lot of agency and a say in their own trajectories.’
Ozasir Kacar, now a senior assistant professor of entrepreneurship and society at Radboud University, wanted to extend the reach of her findings beyond the academic bubble. ‘What we're doing in academia is very valuable, but most of the time it is limited to academic impact.’ The short film has received 11 awards from various film festivals including the Kraken International Film Festival and Mirada Corta Short Film Festival. It has been screened in Nijmegen and Glasgow, and Ozasir Kacar has plans for several screenings this autumn, aiming to reach policy makers and women’s advocacy institutions.
In the short film, the main character, Melisa, comes home after a busy day of work and finds a mirror left on her doorstep. Once she moves the mirror inside and stands in front of it, she discovers a different Melisa every time she looks at it. It shows other versions of her who had different opportunities and faced different challenges, and are from different ethnic origins, and speak different languages. She realizes that if she had faced different opportunities and challenges in life, she might have become one of the people she used to otherize.
Input for future research
So far, the screenings have brought valuable, unexpected input for her future research. The post-screening discussions with audiences have fundamentally shifted how she views the project. ‘I realized that this isn’t just my film anymore’, Ozasir Kacar explains. ‘People interpret the film in ways I hadn't even considered. While some viewers instantly recognize the specific hurdles of being a female entrepreneur, others respond more strongly to themes of migration, parenthood, religion, or peer exclusion.’
Ozasir Kacar is currently developing an academic paper on filmmaking as a form of knowledge creation, which she plans to present at a conference later this year. ‘Originally, I hoped this short film would be a way for my research to reach a broader audience. However, this process has shown me that societal and academic impacts are deeply interrelated. Filmmaking doesn’t just communicate science; it actively generates new scientific insights.’