Inspiring others has enabled Huumessh Gunaseelan to become the 1st Runner-Up in the Independent Tamil Short Film Category during the AGNI Showdown 2016 Short Film and Music Video Contest.
Thirai
His short film called ‘Thirai’ depicted the struggle of an aspiring filmmaker who wanted to pursue his ambition.
The film focuses on a young adult who wanted to study filmmaking, but was unable to. He then pursued a different field of study because of family and financial issues. The short film shows what happens when he comes back from his studies, and what he tells his father about pursuing his dream.
Facing the Challenges
For Huumessh, who was used to making 10-15 minute short films, creating a 5-minute short film was a new challenge.
It took him two days to write the script, which he then discussed with his friends and family members.
The next challenge was to lead a team of ten members.
“We were supportive as a team and everyone treated it as though it was their own movie.”
“Everyone was passionate about their roles,” he said. “It was all about our mindset and attitude.”
More importantly, this experience taught Huumessh the importance of leadership.
“I have worked at a shooting scene by taking orders from the choreographer or directors, but to take the lead to say ‘action’ is different,” he said.
The final challenge was the team’s tight budget which meant that they had to finish the project within a day.
Response from the Competition
According to Huumessh, when his film was screened in front of a live audience, it received applause before it ended.
About a week after the competition’s finals, they announced that Thirai was among the top five.
“Once I was done with the AGNI Showdown, the organisers said to me that my film was really good and advised me to send it to more festivals instead of online competitions.”
Huumessh then sent it to various competitions and received a call from the South Indian International Short Film Awards (SIISFA).
It was then that he realised he had received global recognition because of AGNI and his short film Thirai.
“I was told that my short film was selected among the top 10 films in Malaysia to represent Malaysia in the SIISFA competition, which will have more than 40 short films from across India, Sri Lanka and Singapore competing in Bangalore.”
He has also been receiving calls from other production houses about directing other films after his short film was recognised.
Teamwork with Open Mind
Huumessh credited the success of Thirai to his teammates and the University’s professional educators for encouraging him to pursue his ambition.
“The biggest reason for the success of Thirai is that I believe that it is not a one-man show,” he said while explaining the importance of working together to create a film.
He also explained that it was the people around him who were his biggest advantage during the competition.
Huumessh also mentioned that Limkokwing University had provided him with a different understanding of the world as it enabled him to mix with students of various mindsets.
Through the University’s network of students, he also gained a more clear and sensible knowledge of the media.
“Once I got into Limkokwing University, I made friends with a lot of experienced people in filmmaking course,” he said. “That was what instigated me to develop my own film.”
Ideal Ideas
“I don’t think that only theoretical knowledge alone will help me,” he said while emphasising the importance of gaining experience as well.
For him, Limkokwing University was an ideal place to study and renew his tertiary education in the media industry.
Huumessh explained that while he studied in his previous university, most of his friends were Chinese and Indian. But once he enrolled in Limkokwing University, he began to develop friendships with foreign students of other nationalities.
He also added that mixing with people from various nationalities enabled him to enhance his knowledge not only in filmmaking, but life in general.
“I tend to think more openly now and think without barriers or restrictions,” he said.
Advice to Students
Huumessh’s personal advice is to not only focus on theoretical studies as practical knowledge is important as well.
“Once you feel you are ready, come up with your own creation,” he said “You will also know what you can do.”
According to him, students should get a hold on with their seniors and communicate with them to get as much experience as they can.
“Because of that, I got to know many things about the media which I never got to know before.”