Perspective, is the new short film from Pakistani born British film director, Nimra Munawar. The story centres around ignorant Sharon who becomes uncomfortable seeing a Muslim woman playing ball with a little girl. She takes it upon herself to warn the child’s absent-minded father. Little does she know, the man in question, might not actually share in her backward-looking ideologies.
Munawar has experience as a director, having co-directed the Limelight Award (2017) nominated short film ‘True Bromance’, which was nominated for Best Student Film at the British Film Institute’ Film Academy, as well as a number of documentaries - but Perspective marks her screenwriting debut.
Perspective is the most satisfying project that I have worked on to date.
It's impressive for a short film to tell a message so strongly, with such a limited scope of time. Islamophobia is an issue we are all aware of, and this film highlights it head on. Michaela Mackenzie's portrayal as 'Sharon' was extremely believable and very well done, from the little mannerisms of moving her bag in a huff from fear of robbing to the grimaces she put on her face. I think it's something that most people of colour can relate to, whether those people do it subconsciously or not.
Munawar writes on situations she herself has experienced, stating that 'I made this short film with the hope of bringing awareness to the social issue: Islamophobia. An issue that holds a lot of weight and importance to me as a Pakistani British Muslim'. I think the passion of this comes across in her writing for Perspective, and personally I enjoy when directors draw things from their own experiences and turn that into a thought provoking story.
'If we let go of the hatred in our hearts, there will be room for kindness and love for those we do not understand'
From this film Munawar has proved that she's not only a talented director, but a talented screenwriter too, a double threat. Perspective is a bold move for a screenwriting debut, and it absolutely paid off here. If this is any indicator of Munawar's talent, I for one am excited to see where she will go next.
Here's the link to the film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HKOOo-zu5M - let me know what you think in the comments!
Perspective has also been selected for a few international film festivals, including the following:
"Cinemagic Young Filmmaker Film Festival 2020" in Belfast, Ireland
"Jordan International Film Festival 2020" in Jordan
"Lift-Off Global Network 2020" in the UK
"First-Time Filmmaker Sessions 2020" in the UK
MAIN PRODUCTION CREDITS Written / Directed by: Nimra Munawar
Produced by: Stacey Darkwaah Duah Director of Photography: Haider Romero Perez
1st Assistant Director: Ka-miller Reid
Production / Props Designer: Conor Powell
Production Assistant: Jessica Gavina Hilario
Editing and Coloring by: Brandon Thompson
Film Score by: Peter Flint
TALENT Sanchez Roberts – as “Brandon”
Nia Deacon – as “Khadija”
Michaela Mackenzie – as “Sharon”
Peyton Roberts – as “Lily”
USEFUL LINKS
Director’s Instagram Handle - https://www.instagram.com/nimraaa_m/
Director’s IMDB page – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9784780/
Executively produced by the award-winning filmmaking collective Professional Amateur Productions.