Red watching red This year’s ‘Mami Select: IPhone filmed on iPhone’ One of the four standout films selected for Pahal is photo credit: Special arrangement
The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) has continued its mission to make the film production accessible with “Mami Select: iPhone”, showing the emerging talent in India. This year’s selection is involved Red watching redA dark -based comedic short film directed by Shalini Vijayakumar, which was premiered in PVR Lido in Mumbai and was completely shot on the iPhone 16 Pro Max – a will for the possibilities of the mobile story to be developed.
Red watching red The centers of three women who are haunted only by one ghost, which only appear to them, while their family remains unknown. This basis appears in a clever satire of patriarchal norms in India of the 1980s, a subtle message of combination intelligence, dark humor and women empowerment. The film is one of the four standouts selected for Mami Selection Initiative, which exposes various voices from across the country.
The visual beauty is striking. Ms. Vijayakumar used the camera of the iPhone to make a hot, earthen palette dominated by Ochres, Marun, and MUmed Greens-which reflects the gritty realism of a middle class South Indian house. Low-key light and eye level shots promoted a sense of intimacy and equality between the viewer and the subject, while capturing the rich background expansion that makes the story the basis in its specific context.
She takes advantage of the computational photography capabilities of the iPhone to create this specific aesthetics, including its sensor-shift stabilization, prior recording and cinematic mode. To avoid traditional film production equipment, deliberate choice highlights both the access and ability of mobile technology in cinematic construction.
Speaking after the premiere, Ms. Vijaykumar revealed the origin of the film: taking inspiration from her mother’s childhood stories – especially a memorable story about an uncle who could communicate with ghosts – she tried to create a task contained in personal experience and cultural memory.
She describes a general tropper of Tamil cinema, “mass shot” (usually used for dramatic hero entrances and often presented in high-frame-by 4K), irony comment on-a deliberate view on-Shakti mobility to outline women’s vulnerability and fear from irony. For tight compositions seeking accuracy, Ms. Vijayakumar used 120 mm equivalent lens of iPhone, carefully controlled the story elements within each frame.
Veteran filmmaker Vetri Maran mentioned Vijaykumar, which provides important guidance that refined the realism and thematic resonance of the script. His suggestion to change a character was initially conceived as a Hindu priest of an upper caste, forgetting the ghost with an outsider, which extended the inherent message of the social comment of the film.
‘Mami select: filmed iPhone’ represents more than only one technical performance; It is a platform for diverse narratives and disruptive film production practices, proving that hypnotic stories can emerge from unexpected devices. Ms. Vijaykumar hopes that the audience will only join the experience, a feeling that the film’s playful still surrounds the poignant spirit.
Red watching red This year’s ‘Mami Select: iPhone Filmed on iPhone’ is one of the four standout films selected for the initiative that is taking initiative to showcase Indian filmmakers and their linguistic, regional and fiction diversity. Amrita Bagchi also has the facility in 2025 lineups Tinctoria (Hindi): A psychological thriller about fashion, ghosts and colonial crimes; Rohin ravendron nair Covalent (Malayalam): A magical realistic romance in alpophy backwates; Sculpture Sought (Marathi): An upcoming story about grief, a boy, and his cock.
All four used the iPhone 16 Pro Max and M4 Max-Powered MacBook Pro to push shoots, edits and push visual boundaries.
Published – April 21, 2025 01:34 pm IST
