A tale of the world

combined effort

Twenty-five film-makers, five continents and one story! This is how the movie ‘The Owner’ promoted itself, leaving everyone intrigued about its plot.

For the first time in the industry, 25 film-makers from 13 countries — including India, South Africa, China, Lebanon, Brazil, Columbia, the USA and several European countries — came together to write, direct and produce a feature film in their own neighbourhoods.

With an interesting plot which follows an ordinary backpack on a journey around the world, ‘The Owner’ keeps the audience glued to their seats and bursting into peals of laughter very now and then.

This mysterious bag is passed from character to character and country to country, on its way back to its owner — a man whose identity is the central mystery of the film. Right from the first scene of the movie, which is set in a remote village in Brazil, the audience seemed quite impressed. The movie is the first venture by ‘CollabFeature’ — the filmmakers, who never met each other, weaved the story on the Internet before they started filming it. The movie comprises 25 short clips by each of the filmmakers.

‘The Owner’ brings together a variety of cultures, languages, and film styles into a singular narrative plot. This one-of-its kind movie pulled a large crowd, consisting mostly of youngsters. The movie captured the essence of various countries such as Brazil, the USA and Korea. Although there are a few scenes in the movie which can be baffling to some, as they fail to depict what the film-makers wanted to show. But the storyline truly makes the movie a must-watch.

‘CollabFeature’ was started by filmmakers Marty Shea and Ian Bonner in Michigan, the USA, to facilitate collaboration between international film-makers.

The duo wrote and directed seven short films that have been screened and won awards at dozens of film festivals around the world.

A second collaborative feature, including even more countries, is currently in production.