Mariam Farman

Mariam Farman (she/her 2003) is a writer with a passion for storytelling. She loves making her characters as realistic as possible and developing the plot in as much detail as possible. She primarily writes prose, but for her graduation project, she chose to adapt her story into screenplay form. She has a predilection for magical realism and dystopia, but she's certainly not averse to other genres.

Europe's New Talent

Europe's New Talent is a scenario set (not so) far in the future. Refugees must audition for a talent show to enter Europe. Lovers Asma and Samira flee both war and homophobia in the Middle East. In Europe, they hope to be safe together. However, the talent show proves more difficult than they expected, and the system is merciless. Does love truly conquer all? Or will the inhumane circumstances drive them apart?

Excerpt:

Welcome to Europe! The safest and most beautiful continent on earth. We have been blessed with a rich variety of plants and animals(...) No European has to worry about clean water or food on the table. We live in peace and prosperity. We want to share these blessings with the rest of the world. Sadly, not everyone that comes here understands our ways. The earth has been plagued by wars and disasters, which makes people from outside of Europe hard and sometimes even barbaric(...)We realised soon that these people, who have such different values and no manners cannot be expected to understand our way of life(...)So we invented a new system, in which we can focus on a small amount and give them a good life. Europe’s New Talent was called to life. And with it, Wanderers Island(...)To make something fun out of a sticky situation, we allow wanderers to perform their talents to the entire world. In the weeks prior to the show they get to train and live together, (...)bonds of friendly competition and friendships are built (...) With Europe’s New Talent in place, we can root out the bad ones and take care of the wanderers who actually deserve to be here. And the lucky few, whom we get to share our blessings with, will share their talents with us.