ਨਜ਼ਰ/Nazar - Short Film Fundraiser

The Story

In two sentences:

Hardeep, a denier of superstition, has his world turned upside down after encountering an entity that proves him wrong. As he continues to engage with the dark entity he quickly spirals out of control. 

In a few more:

ਨਜ਼ਰ, pronounced Nazar, it is the very prevalent idea in Punjabi culture that if you gloat, show off, flaunt wealth, you open yourself up for someone to cast an evil eye to you and take those things away. It is an idea seen through many cultures and different walks of life. 

The film is an exploration of our lead character, a young Sikh man, who is a non-believer being awakened to the truth of it and the power it contains. It is a tragedy and ends with him losing himself to the power of what he is able to do through casting the evil eye. It explores the themes of losing oneself and how, especially in today’s social media influencer heavy society, how comparing oneself to others leads to a life filled with unhappiness and resentment. 

Our story begins at a dinner party and the frustrations of what Hardeep perceives as boasting from another Sikh character, Amar. Amar, grew up with wealth and has very different reference points to Hardeep and we play with this difference in class throughout the scene. Hardeep brings the focus to Amar's visible protections against Nazar bringing the discussion into a place of intellect Vs superstition.

ਕਿਸਮਤ, pronounced Kismet (Karma) is another significant part of Punjabi culture. This film plays with the idea of someone becoming an arbitrator of that and how they become corrupted. 

The idea of superstition is at odds with Sikhism and there’s something interesting to explore through this idea of Culture Vs Religion. As someone who has grown up in the midst of two very passionate communities, the Scots and the Punjabis, I feel ready to start exploring that through my work and particularly this film. 

Horror is in a huge upswing at the moment, which for a lifelong horror fan is a great thing to be a part of. Not only does it offer huge engagement and potential for an entertaining time, it offers a chance to create social impact and change. Horror fans have consistently shown an engagement with new films that do not rely on big name actors/IP/sequels/high budget levels. They have consistently shown that if we build it they will come in a way that is very unique to the genre. I would argue that the biggest cultural impact a film has made in the past ten years is Get Out. Horror is a brilliant and freeing place and one that will hopefully help bring a conversation to the table. 

There is much discourse on diversity and the types of stories we are telling. For me it’s not just about being on screen but being put in a position to lead stories of our own. To bring a new perspective to ongoing conversations. I have grown up with near to zero representation of Sikh characters on screen. I was four years into working in this industry before I got to work with another Sikh person. As dramatic as it may sound, I truly believe I can play a part in changing that and this project is a step towards that both for me behind the camera and for our cast in front. 

Stills from a previous short film, Deliverance:

Match Funding Explanation:

We’re so happy to announce that our project is being supported by Creative Scotland’s Crowdmatch. 

This means each individual pledge is matched up to the amount of £250. So not only is your contribution helping us step towards our goal, it is doubled as soon as you’ve submitted! This is a huge help in realising our goal. 

Stills from a previous short film, Peaked:

What you are paying for:

This budget allows us to take a step forward in terms of production value and how we are able to tell the stories that we would like to. 

Putting the money on screen is a multi layered process. It’s not just about equipment and fancy lenses but personnel both in front and behind the camera. This money provides us the opportunity to tell this story and step up the way we would like to tell it. Even with this budget it still requires much in-kind favours and passion from those involved but we are able to respect everyone’s time a little bit more. Neither Jena or I will be taking a single penny from this process but we raise money in the hope to ensure that everyone else on the production can be remunerated for their time in some way.  

Specifically the money will cover: 

Cast

Crew

Locations

Catering

Equipment

Design

Post-Production

Festival Submissions 

We have looked at the numbers and what in-kind contributions we are able to rely on and £13,000 is the bottom line for making this short. Luckily we have the support of Creative Scotland’s matchfund which doubles every individual contribution up to £250 which gives a strong chance of reaching the threshold. 

Stills from a previous short film, Deity:

Ambitions:

On a much lower self financed short film, Deliverance, we have already received strong feedback and industry recognition. We Premiered at this year's FrightFest, which is the biggest Horror Film Festival in the UK. We had our international Premiere at the Oscar Qualifying Tasveer Film Festival and made the longlist for the Grand Jury Prize. 

With this short we hope to continue our push into the Film Festival world and break through into some of the ‘A’ tier festivals around the world. The competition here is tough, this is where short films tend to begin at a £25,000 budget and go into the six figures. We believe through this fund, our story and the connections we have we will be able to compete in this world. We also aim to target other significant Genre festivals and BAFTA and BIFA qualifying festivals which in turn force the industry to take notice of what we’re doing. 

Once the festival run is completed we will look to online distribution with the priority being maximum exposure and engagement in order to prove there is a market for these types of stories and characters on screen. 

We are nearing the end of the Festival run for Deliverance, and hope that we are able to begin building that audience through that once we are able to distribute online which we are aiming for the summer of 2025 for. 

The Team

Kaljeven Singh Lally, Writer/Director

As a Writer/Director, Kaljeven focuses on specific stories unique to his voice and lived experiences as a Sikh person raised in Scotland; combined with his love of Cinema. 

He is a huge fan of Horror and all things Fantastical too, from The Shining to Saw to Pan's Labyrinth, it all has a special place in his heart! 

He's spent several years working in the industry, climbing the ranks of the Post Production department where he has Edited episodes of Outlander and Assistant Edited on shows like the Tattooist of Auschwitz.

Alongside this he has gained traction in recent years in his main passion of Writing and Directing. He has Directed 13 episodes of the continuing Drama River City;  Directing 2nd Unit on Drama’s such as Shetland and Screw; having a couple of feature film projects picked up for early stage development; and being selected on the Channel 4 New Writers scheme too. 

Jena Hunter, Producer

With a background in television Production Management Jena is now using these transferable skills to Producing shorts and feature films.  She also works in Film and Television industry training in Scotland.

Her 15 years in industry provides a strong understanding of the logistics of productions: from pre-production, through to post-production and delivery.  Working between Unscripted and Scripted productions, across a variety of genres including live events broadcasts has given her the experience of supporting crews from as few as 3 people, to 1000+ people with varying budget scales – from daytime television budgets, to working on Band 4 High End Television.  

She enjoys marrying the practicalities of filming with the development of working on short films and features, and enjoys that every day is still a school day!

Thank you so much for your time and support!

Any questions or follow up, don't hesitate to contact us on: [email protected]