Bunuelesque

"Bunuelesque’s” approach to film is indicative of the great surrealist Luis Bunuel; a director defined by his outrageous and damning moral plays targeted at the bourgeois. Focusing on the false altruism plagued in dining room debates, the characters delve back and forth into irrelevant diatribes surrounding outdated concepts of wealth; “Discreet Charms of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel” elevated these dining room discussions into feature-length horrors, meaning to incite turmoil and unrest, accurately depicting the class divides that still plague us to this day. Bunuelesque focuses its lens on the inherent wealth built into these discussions, bringing itself into the forefront of the character's dialogue and beliefs. As they sit enamoured in conversation, their dinner turns cold….

Shot in Black & White, ‘Bunuelesque’ deals with fear, greed, and the darker aspects of the human psyche. In order to express the characters’ mental states visually, we used canted angles, obscure set design and an original score. Using this specific framing and camera angles, with a focused use of light & shadows, the film aims to emphasise the troubled minds of the protagonists. All the while, the untouched meal serves as a haunting symbol of their gluttony, building towards a horrifying twist. I love this technique as it inexplicably traps the characters, speaking to both their fears and the nature of society.

We were fortunate to collaborate with Hippogryph Films, a production company founded by Aman Mehra, the grandson of veteran Bollywood Film Producer, F.C. Mehra. Hippogryph Films specialises in the production of independent short and feature films, aiming to create diverse, relevant and impactful content that delivers a strong message.

Filmed during the Covid Pandemic and on a low budget, we pushed to have a diverse and talented international crew. We had the Original score created by Daniel Nissenbaum from the US. The colouring and VFX were completed by Yurtsever Orkun Tatar from Turkey and Utkarsh Kumar Singh from India, respectively. The rest of the diverse cast and crew were based in the UK but come from all over the world!

As inequality becomes more extreme around the world, I hope a story of the dark side of wealth will resonate globally and hopefully, provoke debate.