| Title: 11thHour
Producer: Sami Haque & Hasan Shaikh
Type: comedy/drama, 24mins
Director: Ross Heran
Language: English
Sami Haque and a group of Muslims have
made a film that has been making big waves in his community. Haque
received close to 1,800 downloads a month and shares the experience
here. The subject of the film is death and changing your ways before
it's too late. This topic is very big among the youth, who, according
to Sami, are a market not touched by media.
“A man that decides to change on the 12th
hour dies on the 11th.” This simple quote was first introduced to me
during my high school years. I found it intriguing because like many at
that age, I felt I had many promised years ahead of me, not realizing
that death could hit at anytime.
During college I wanted to expand on this
idea and had great hopes of turning this message into a short film. I
asked Hasan Shaikh, an English major from a neighboring
university, to co-write due to his experience and knowledge with film.
Being new to the screenwriting or even film world, we found ourselves
hitting many stops during our writing processes. We both knew what we
wanted out of this film, but we knew that comedy would really bring in
the audience’s attention. We decided to follow a format that would mix
both serious learning moments and comedy in almost a rollercoaster
effect.
Once the script was written, Hasan and I
set out to find someone to direct and shoot the film, since we both had
no prior experience in shooting. After much interviewing, Ross Heran, a
junior film student, was chosen for the job. Ross brought a great deal
of advice to make the film run smoothly and look good. We then quickly
started to audition actors for the roles. What was initially planned to
take a week, ended up taking much longer due to a lack of interest in
many applicants. While this process went on, I collectively searched
for places to shoot. Many phone calls were made and e-mails sent out to
find free locations.
Once shooting began, it was one road block
after another. There were times that shooting would go late into the
night, scenes needed to be improved; there was even a time when we lost
three hours of footage due to misplacing of the tapes. As we began to
almost give up hope in ourselves, we found strength within ourselves to
push this project out. When it came to editing, shooting almost seemed
like a breeze. Much like a jigsaw puzzle, we began to piece together
the film and have it ready to be presented. We finished the day of our
deadline, which turned out to be an entertainment night held by our
Muslim Student Association (MSA).
The response was electrifying. The entire
audience of 300 was on their feet as the credits rolled by. Since then
many have viewed and given comments on the film, ranging from “it was a
great comedy” to “it really put my life into perspective.” In sha’ Allah (Allah willing), we hope to be making more films in the future too, so we can reach out and give back to the Islamic community.
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