Post It! The new micro-film by a Kolkata director
Post It! The film comes with a tag, it is a microfilm, lasting less than four minutes, yet it has an important message to pass on to the audience within that short period. Difficult to direct such a film? Yes, it is, but director and author Mahul Brahma took up the challenge. As he puts in: “Typically, a micro short film has a duration less than 5 mins. I found it extremely exciting to take up a project wherein, I have to communicate to the audience my thoughts in such a short span. After being used to long forms, especially after finishing my second book, Dark Luxe and my feature film Hoyto Manush Noy, I took Post It! as an opportunity to create something in an entirely new form.”
With the receding attention span and patience of audience, any format of creativity needs to find a channel wherein it will be able to reach out to their mindspace, in little or no time, and leave them with a willing suspension of disbelief or just a nagging thought. The plot came to the director’s mind in mid-air and he wrote the first draft on a boarding pass mid-air on his way to Kolkata. After rounds of revisions and creative arguments and six-months later, he and his wife Sabiya, finally decided to make the film in a micro short film format. “We decided to experiment and shoot it on an i-phone. We used two i-phones for two PoV options while shooting. Sabiya wore the hat of DoP as well as the editor. I am a bit technologically challenged. She edited the film,” adds Brahma.
The storyline is unique. It is a love story, where two lovers separated by death, find a unique way to communicate – through Post-Its. This film captures a day in their life over a fight on which film they will watch together – François Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player or Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon. The twist in the fight is that the girl only responds via Post-Its. The movie is shot primarily from the girl’s PoV. The guy reads the response/arguments on the Post-Its and responds to her directly. The twist in the tale is when one realises, one of them is dead and they use Post-Its to communicate and stay together just they used to when they were alive.The film has already been selected and screened at two coveted US film festivals and 8th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival. Brahma is hopeful the film will leave a mark in international film festivals and competitions this year. Next year, he will be releasing the film in India on you-tube.
In the international circuit too, such films are gaining popularity. Such as Lights Out, a Hollywood horror movie, was inspired by a micro short film by the same name. David Sandberg had packed a brilliant punch in his directorial debut. Most international film festivals today are recognising micro short films and these have their own category today against short films. Brahma believes these films are the future of cinema. “I was quite tensed, as this was my directorial debut and that too in an unconventional format at no-budget. And it was difficult directing the ghost, played by yours truly. There are many twists and turns, horror and love, packed in the 3 mins and 50 secs.”
