The independent film industry is witness to some of the most creative and remarkable visual expressions all year round. But there are some films that stand out as features that viewers and critics can’t wait to see.
One such film is Love Thy Neighbour, an indie animated short film. The 10-minute-long film is set to hit the online channels in December 2020, and its first 1 minute is ready to watch. The film’s writer, Nisha Kapoor, guarantees this 1 minute will leave audiences intrigued and wanting more. “While the plot is unprecedented, the plot twist is even more surprising, something the world hasn’t seen before. You will be surprised how the film is not what you think it is,” Nisha shares.
The entire film is a package filled with distinction and uniqueness. Aside from the plot and the plot twist, the other thing that is creatively remarkable about the film is that the entire script is a poem!
How the poem came about, the spark that led to the idea, and the words that come with it is another unique experience in itself and takes us back to Nisha’s life journey.
In her own words, Nisha says, “Art chose me. I have always been creative as a child, but in my growing years and even till this day, I have had many unique spiritual experiences, ones that are otherworldly and mystical but peaceful and harmonious. These experiences became the conduit to express my creativity.”
Nisha clearly remembers how about 2 years ago, during a bout of spiritual epiphany, she started writing unabated and wrote around 14 poems in one day. And one such poem was this film!
She was stunned at what had come out of the poems when she finally read them. Nisha recalls that she had no predetermined plot before writing the poems. In fact, she hadn’t even known she would be writing so much that day. It was as if her muse had taken over and her pen was just flowing despite herself. The thoughts and words were striking, as if from a power above, and she couldn’t help but write. Having written 14 poems that were all incredibly good, she knew the last one was a winner. So she stopped at that. As if having woken up from a trance, she casually left all the poems in her diary to be published at a later point in time.
A few months later, during another such divine spiritual episode, Nisha felt compelled to draw and paint. Having no canvas around, she just took to her phone and started painting digitally and even started making animated short films. “If the other day was about writing, this time, I could not help painting and making films,” she says.
She made a whopping 9 animated films in one day, all hand drawn on phone, with basic frame-by-frame animation, as she had no prior knowledge of animation. All these films won, twice, at 2 international short film festivals. The films were so appreciated in the film fests that she was approached by a professional production house who liked her work and decided to make a film with her.
Nisha knew at that very instance what that film would be: the 14th poem she had written that fateful day.
That is how the dots connected—from writing to filmmaking to being approached by a professional production house. From mysticism to reality, this film came into being.
Nisha declares with confidence that Love Thy Neighbour is not only riveting but will be a catalyst for change for the filmmaking world due to its uniqueness of form, script, and indie nature.
Go watch the first 1 minute of the film on its Instagram account while the team works diligently toward completing the entire 10 minutes.
About the Team
Writer:
Apart from being an award-winning filmmaker, Nisha is also a world-famous, UNESCO affiliated visual artist.
Producer:
Na Aap Productions is a South African broad-based production company that is screening and creating untold indigenous stories of Southern African history. It was founded by Deidré Jantjies.
Animators:
Josh and Tauriq are two animation students who also juggle freelance work.
