MOVIES
Mosleh’s “Breakthrough” takes a startling turn
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by Charlie Smith
ancouver filmmaker and producer Panta Mosleh decided to create a movie in 48 hours for a simple reason: she wanted to add a thriller to her directing reel. The Run N Gun 2021 48-hour film competition was accepting submissions earlier this year. So Mosleh and some of her long-time collaborators, including cinematographer Jay Kamal, decided to go for it. They created a short film, “Breakthrough”, which opens with a harrowing scene augmented by sinister music, sharp editing, and close-ups that convey the agony of two people being held captive. Moments later, these prisoners are seen laying flat on a descending open platform, yelling for their lives at their captors. As this unfolds, a woman in charge casually walks down a staircase observing them. “We found an excellent studio in Langley, thanks to our production designer Shawn Major,” Mosleh told the Straight by phone on July 9. “As we walked in the location, I saw that staircase and the lift [platform] and I fell in love with it.” The men are thrown into prison cells and locked to the wall. “Breakthrough” was one of the five finalists for best film in the Run N Gun competition, which was won by “Shit Sponge”. The three other finalists were “Netmare”, “Rule of Nine”, and “The Better Forever”, which won the audience-choice award. “Breakthrough” is not a run-of-the-mill thriller, not by any means. That’s because under the rules of the 48-hour competition, each filmmaker had to incorporate certain elements in their production, which could not last longer than four minutes. These prompts were delivered at the start of filming.
Ali (Mostafa Shaker) doesn’t know what will happen when he enters a cell with Dominiq (Donia Kash) in “Breakthrough”.
I like to throw in little suprises for people when I direct films. – director Panta Mosleh
“We didn’t know what the script was going to be,” Mosleh conceded. “The prompts might have even ruined our premise idea.” One of them required the use of tape, whether it was a cassette, adhesive tape, police tape, etcetera. That worked
for a hostage drama. But Mosleh described another prompt as a “curveball” because it required that the film address the theme of the “greater good”. “We were [saying], ‘How is a hostage situation going to work for the greater good?’ ” Mosleh recalled. Fortunately for Mosleh, one of the executive producers, David Aboussafy, is a psychologist with a PhD. A quote from a study he had written about BDSM came in extremely handy. “It’s a nice little surprise,” Mosleh said. “I like to throw in little surprises for people when I direct films... It was lovely how it worked out.” Mosleh credited the sponsors, including Sim Camera Vancouver, which provided hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of camera gear for free. MBS Equipment Co. donated the use of technical gear that she said were worth tens of thousands of dollars. She also thanked Caveman Café, Circus Technologies Inc., and Canada Wide Communications for their support. Mosleh, an LGBT+ Persian Canadian director-writeractor-producer, ensures there’s as much diversity behind the camera as there is on-screen in her films, and “Breakthrough” is no exception. Vancouver actor Mostafa Shaker, who stars as Ali, was also an executive producer and cocreated the story with Mosleh and Ian Frayne. Amira Anderson, a Black actor, plays Taylor, the woman in charge. She received a credit for cowriting the script with Carolyn Woolner. Major, the production designer, was cast as the hostage named Jay. Two other actors, Donia Kash and Moheb Jindran, play captors in “Breakthrough”. So is it possible that “Breakthrough” could one day be expanded into a feature or a series? “It could be an interesting topic to explore,” Mosleh replied. g
“Shit Sponge” cleans up at Run N Gun competition
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by Charlie Smith
short film about a female rapper with a history of substance abuse took three top honours in Vancouver’s Run N Gun film competition on July 10. The judges declared “Shit Sponge” the best film at a raucous awards ceremony at the Rio Theatre. Brianne Nord-Stewart won best director for her depiction of a hotel desk clerk’s visit to the room of a burned-out star, played by Arghavan Jenati (“Faryad”, “Running Behind”, Arrow). Jenati won for best solo performance. Run N Gun’s awards ceremony is more profane and outrageous—and low budget—than what people are used to at other entertainment-awards events. After some people complained on the YouTube livestream about the sound disappearing for a short while, Run N Gun’s Joel McCarthy jokingly directed a stream of expletives at them. And after the best film was announced, McCarthy gave director Nord-Stewart a cannabis plant. That was in addition to her other prizes, which included a $1,000 cash award for best film
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THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT
Arghavan Jenati won the Run N Gun award for best solo performance in Vancouver’s 48-hour film contest for playing a burned-out rapper in director Brianne Nord-Stewart’s “Shit Sponge”.
and $200 for best director. “Is it legal to give out a pot plant as an award?” McCarthy asked. “I don’t fucking know.” Nord-Stewart confessed that she’s never owned a pot plant before. She also volunteered that making “Shit Sponge” was the best weekend that she’s had in the past 18 months. The audience choice for best film was
JULY 15 – 22 / 2021
“The Better Forever”, with second place going to “Untouched” and third place to “Netmare”. The audience-choice award was named in honour of film, TV, and voice actor Bruce Blain. A previous winner of the audience-choice award for “Mad Santa”, Blain died on May 15. As he talked about Blain, McCarthy expressed real remorse and sadness, marking
a departure from his outrageous banter from the stage with cohost Sasha Duncan, who threw a few F-bombs herself. This year, there was a record 100 entries in Run N Gun, which requires filmmakers to create their short (four minutes or less) movies within a 48-hour period while following specific rules. Every filmmaker had to include tape (and it could be a cassette) and a specific line, plus it had to have a theme to “serve the greater good”. In addition, they were prohibited from mentioning COVID, vaccines, quarantining, or unoriginal jokes about 5G. Directors received these prompts at the start of filming. Other winners at this year’s Run N Gun included Belen Garcia (“Marsha’s Knitting Club”) for best cinematography, Robert Phaneuf (“Netmare”) for best sound design, “Rule of Nine” for best ensemble and best writing, “Departed 2” for best editing, Alexander J. Baxter (“Untouched”) for best production design, “Marsha’s Knitting Club” for best makeup, and “Gig-Nickle” for best student film. g
