Cannes Short Film Corner 2018 - Symmetry
A young woman must deal with the loss of her husband until she realizes that he is closer than she could ever imagine.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Roshni Bhatia
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you! The reason I chose to make 'this' short film is because I had a driving passion to tell a story relative to the laws of the spirit world which I have always found intriguing, with a potential combination with music as I've had a fervor for singing and playing the synthesizer since I was 9. It turned out to be one challenging project but once I took time off and deeply thought of what I wanted to tell the audience in regards to its theme, in goodwill it turned out to be the 'reunion of love through music', no matter where you are and what you do.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Because you will relate to it even if you haven't been through it. It will not take you through a rollercoaster ride like a horror film but it will definitely make you experience all kinds of emotions in the most magical way, I promise. Besides, if you are someone who has dealt with the loss of a loved one, just like me, at some point you may have tried or thought of ways you can talk to them one last time and tell them whatever you've been longing to but hadn't come to terms with it. This one is for you.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Every individual has gone through an inevitable point in life where they have had an uncomfortable conversation with themselves. Do I really have faith in the existence of God? Rebirth? After life? I struggled with it for the longest time and funny thing is that I am more skeptical than ever. Symmetry deals with universal themes like these when it comes to Clara's (our protagonist) internal struggle. Her external i.e the personal theme is her inability to deal with the unexpected death of her husband. Although things are only getting worse, redemption kicks in when she plays the same musical piece that she and her husband, Peter, would play together as musicians.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
MAJORLY. And I think it is something every screenwriter/director has been through so far. The biggest challenge for me was putting specificity and concrete details/exposition on screen. My script depicted a story about an event taking place in parallel worlds where Peter loses his wife Clara in one world and in the other Clara loses Peter. Eventually we see their reunion through the music peace. I am still a fan of that concept. It has spiritualism and sci-fi at the same time. By the time we reached post, it looked completely different. Nobody understood what was going on, everyone had their own perceptions about the story and it was disappointing.
I was very lucky to have that much coverage in order to create a fresh concept all together. I had to slash out all the scenes I had with Peter struggling with Clara's loss and changed it to what we see now – A young woman must deal with the loss of her husband until she realizes that he is closer than she could ever imagine.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I promise you, in this line, you're never going to get just positive feedback. In my case, I mostly received feedback where my audience were left teary eyed. Some loved the choice of shots while others felt the movie would have been incomplete if there weren't any music to get them together. But who wants to talk about the bad feedback?
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
A bit of both, but mostly challenging. I feel the pressure of receiving nominations and awards but again, these are happy problems. I am currently writing a horror/sci-fi screenplay which is going to go into production this June. It is extremely risky and challenging. It's low budget but we'll make it work!
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Visibility is always good. The more people get to see, the better for me and my team. When I submitted Symmetry to Cannes it was a working project. I am glad we recently got done with the final version and its more exciting to put it out on any platform that motivates more women filmmakers from diversified groups.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
At this point, I find the urgent need for distributors and buyers.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Any kind is great. The fact that my film gets the opportunity to screen in front of some many talented filmmakers and move buffs from different cities and countries is a big deal for me. And for the most obvious response, I want people to enjoy my film and get out of it with thought provoking feedback.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Various. The ones on top of my head would be – Was it spiritualism and faith in a higher up that brought them together or just the philosophical connection with music and thoughts of parallel universes, if any? Did this really happen or was it all in Clara's head? Is the story about Peter or Clara? They both seem isolated, who is really dead? Oh, and so many more.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Well, I am writing a horror/sci-fi short that I will be directing called 'Plasmid'. In a nutshell, it's about a young nurse fighting for her life when her house is invaded by an unearthly intruder, who is NOT a human or has a body of its own.
My executive producer who also happens to be a best-selling author, magician, filmmaker and science enthusiast, Andrew Mayne, just wrapped up shooting for Shark Week which will air in July. He also recently had his book Black Fall nominated for the Edgar Awards for Best Paperback Original.
Interview: June 2018
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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SYMMETRY
A young woman must deal with the loss of her husband until she realizes that he is closer than she could ever imagine.
Length: 7:36
Director: Roshni Bhatia
Producer: Andrew Mayne and Roshni Bhatia
Writer: Roshni Bhatia
About the writer, director and producer:
About Roshni – She is a writer, director and editor whose been making movies for over 5 years and has received international nominations for Best Director and Editor. She won the 2 National Film festival awards for Best Editor in Student Category. She has worked with several Bollywood Playback Singers and directed, conceptualized and edited 6 music videos in the span of 2 months.
Andrew Mayne – Famous for his TV show on A&E called 'Don't Trust Andrew Mayne', Having written and produced over fifty books, DVDs, and manuscripts on magic, he is considered one of the most prolific magic creators of the last decade. Andrew is an author, magician, illusion designer and filmmaker with Best-Selling Books like The Naturalist with an Edgar Nomination for his book 'Black Fall'. You will see him on Shark Week this July.
Key cast: Paula Alves, Aric Coppola
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Distributors and Buyers.
Email id – roshni@newcaesarfilms.com
Cannes Catalogue link- http://sub.festival-cannes.fr/SfcCatalogue/MovieDetail/65269d1a-c801-421d-987f-15f45971377f