KUCHING, Dec 19th: ‘Christmas Mirage’ is a 15-minute Christmas short film that presents an atypical holiday tale, weaving themes of fatherhood, family bonds, and economic challenges.
Set in Kampung Stutong a month before Christmas, the storyline follows Glenn Abraham, portrayed by Awang Fadhlee, who experiences a job loss.
Battling financial strain and the ensuing tension with his wife Sara, played by rapper Arabyrd, Glenn makes determined efforts to gather sufficient funds to fulfill his daughter Faye’s (Fatima Badiya Juliana) Christmas wish for a bicycle.
The film explores the dynamics of a Bidayuh-Iban family coping with adversity during the festive season.
“‘Christmas Mirage’ highlights how men tend to hide their worries and the challenges they are willing to go through for their family,” said producer and founder of Anak Kapal 47 studio, Razeeq Sulaiman.
“This short film carries the message about traditional patriarchy mentality, and urge men to be more vulnerable about their mental health.”
Razeeq, 26, who previously produced Undiscovered Creatives for TVS as part of Pitch-It (TVS pitched programmes), said the story idea came from the director, Davis Jatan, who suggested to pitch a Christmas short film for TVS with a focus on the struggles of fatherhood.
“We have a few fathers in the team including the main actor, and also within our social circle. We tend to see each other’s struggles but none of us want to share with each other. So that pretty much inspired this story,” he told TVS in an exclusive interview today.
The production of ‘Christmas Mirage’ faced challenges when the main actor, Fadhlee, got injured and attended the last script reading on crutches.
In response, the team decided to delay the shoot, extending the shooting period from three to four days to accommodate the actor’s injury.
Director of Photography Maximilian Lenjau changed the shot list overnight, adapting Fadhlee’s scenes to eliminate the need for walking, ensuring a smoother production despite the unexpected setback.
“There was one shot where Fadhlee had to push his push cart, but there was actually three people hiding behind the cart. Two of them pushed the cart while another person was holding him still,” Razeeq explained.
To infuse a distinctive Sarawakian essence into the narrative, Razeeq’s team opted to depict Glenn as a Bidayuh husband and Sara as an Iban wife, highlighting the diversity and representation of interracial marriages in Sarawak on screen.
“We also chose Kampung Stutong as the setting as it depicts reality because many Iban and Bidayuh families reside there,” he added.
‘Christmas Mirage’ premieres on TVS on December 25th (Monday) at 7:30pm. – TVS
