We were lucky to catch up with A.Shoaib Khan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi A.Shoaib, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project has to be actually my most recent one.
I wrote and directed “Walk with Death” a short film which is significant in a number of ways, firstly being that it was my thesis film. The three year journey I’ve been on, coming to America, pursuing filmmaking, learning the craft and it’s nuances all accumulated into this fifteen minute film. In addition to that the story I chose to tell was a very personal one. I’ve actually had it written in my OneNotes app since April of 2017 and I apparently started writing it at 3am. The real personal aspect is why I wrote it though. One of my bestfriends passed away and this story acted as a sort of catharsis for me to get out my hopes and grief for him. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you I’m not the most emotionally expressive person however our subconscious always has a habit of leaking onto the pages we write and I think I really achieved a kind of relief by doing this.
Finally in it’s actual creation there were so many meaningful and testing moments that my team and myself overcame. My dates due to permitting had to be moved up from the weekend to the start of the week and although a simple change like that doesn’t seem demonstrably difficult, in a film shoot it’s basically the equivalent of throwing a cake into a tumbler and then being asked to reassemble it. All my location except for one had to be talked into rescheduling meaning what I had planned to shoot last actually came first now. My team as well had to be re-organized as some had prior commitments or last minute unforeseen circumstances.
That is to say if I ever believed in good fortune it would be because of this shoot. The team I ended up in the project with were some of the most hardworking, uniquely passionate and intrinsically perfect people. Every single on of them preformed to their highest capability and some I’m quite sure even pushed past that to surprise themselves. Their spirits on all days were uplifting and wholesome and I found myself surrounded not by just filmmakers but by ones that I consider family. That meant the world to me.
I could talk about any other hurdles but they all pail in comparison to my team’s capabilities to overcome them.
Mo, Leon, Shahan, Tatyana ,Ayesha, Vedant, Vedanti, Kristina, Kadir, Filipp, Guillermo, Johnny, Ellie, Malika, Hashim and my two incredible actors; Nilo and Sophie.
Thank you for everything, I love you all.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a Director, Assistant Director, Writer and Actor from Pakistan who is currently on track to graduate from New York Film Academy.
Prior to this I pursued law which although I did enjoy, it wasn’t where my passion lay. Eventually a time came where I decided that life is too short and if I was going to do something for the rest of my life it might aswell be something I truly want to. A few months later I was here in Los Angeles enrolled in film school.
I think a big contributor to this was my upbringing, my father was in the military and so we would be posted to a new location every few years. The one thing that stayed consistent throughout all that apart from my incredible family were films. They transcend boarders and can take you into far off scenarios and places for hours at a time and that truly became a source of comfort and inspiration.
What I bring to a set is unbridled dedication, filmmaking is a collaborative process and contains a lot of moving parts. As a Director and Assistant Director I try to get them all to work efficiently and with a self willingness to meet the deadlines. You have to strike a balance between likeable but stern when it comes down to the wire which I feel I handle quite well.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Okay let me start by saying I hate the term non-creatives. I believe everyone displays creativity in their own respective fields, I’ve seen marketing presentations for Pepsi and UI designs for an app that have blown me away. So for me everyone is a creative, it’s just a difference of how they express themselves.
The one thing that someone might not understand is the lengths we as filmmakers go to in order to create our work. The time and effort that goes into pre-production, production and post. Nailing down every detail so that on the actual day of the shoot it can be relatively smooth and when finally released to the public is worth putting your name proudly next to. Also the manpower required to create and it be actually good surprised me. The names you see at the end credits of something watched were all essential to make it happen.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Well with my work I don’t really believe I’m trying to push a message or any kind of dogma through to anybody. Films for me have always served as an escape from reality. An ability to experience a narrative greater or even simply different to yourself. If I can offer that form of escapism to anyone else with my films that would mean the world. Films did so much of that for me and I want to pay it forward to someone else.
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Image Credits
Khushagra Jain