Masperati

Abstract

This report details the year-long journey of making Masperati, from its conceptualization to post-production. The report will also shed light on the challenges faced and lessons learnt during this project. Masperati is a 20-minute short film done by student group One Mind Productions. The group comprises three final-year students; Junaini Binte Johari (producer, writer), Valerie Toh Ser-Yi (director, writer) and Jalelah Binte MSAB (editor, writer) and is supervised by Dr. Foo Tee Tuan.

Three film students made the discovery of a lifetime when they found the lost footage belonging to Leanna Tan and Roshan Gidwani who had travelled to the tiny town of Masperati but never returned. Both Leanna and Roshan aimed to make a documentary on the town where allegedly the concept of race and religion do not exist. Only their footage survived. The three students however cannot agree as to how to present the footage and what emerges are two separate versions – one highlights the domestic abuse between the townhead Simon and his wife Rani, while the other focuses on the absence of race and religion in a small town, and how one woman will do anything to protect and preserve what is rightfully hers.