People from Pakistan, India and US will work together on The City He Forgets - a story based on the experience of South-Asian immigrants who grow up and seek a future in the states; it's about finding solace in others' company and making a place home, a familiar feeling for all of us on the team.

Take a photo so you don't forget later; save it in the folder: Summer '19 - ATL/CHI. Meet an old friend after a long time who has a family now. Hear a train and wish someone you loved once is on it. And maybe it is her. You show her what you want the city to look like; she thinks different.

Hi this is Rehab Maqsood. Thank you for reading this!

The City He Forgets is a short film that I have wanted to do for more than a year. It came from an idea for a story about two people meeting again after years and discovering how different they have grown to be. In the film these two people are Amir and Ayesha with opposing worldviews and an ill-fated love for each other. 

“MAYBE IN MY NEXT LIFE”

This idea of an altered sense of self and the world is related to my feelings about the last decade which at one point felt like an interlude – an idle period caused by health issues – which was introspective for me in a way that our present moment is. What I went through was a bunch of different feelings but I mostly view this time as a break from the past and a switch to new aspirations. The journey thereafter has brought me to this film.

This story is a few days in Amir's life which he spends reconnecting with his old friends; but it is as much about them as it is about him. The through line here is Amir's desire to get them all in one place, for it is only through his people that he knows how a change in the world is possible. But in meeting Ayesha he discovers that his experience of living in the city is just one of many. 

People and places as reincarnations in your life, memories as desires of a future – the reflections here are centered around losing things, regaining them briefly, and then losing them again, a damage to oneself, both mental and physical, incurred in jostling with an unyielding metropolis; the title of the film alludes to this particular struggle of Amir.

"Lightning…then darkness! Lovely fugitive

whose glance has brought me back to life! But where

is life – not this side of eternity?

Elsewhere! Too Far, too late, or never at all!

Of me you know nothing, I nothing of you – you

Whom I might have loved and who knew that too!"

You can get a sense of what this film feels like from the pre-viz that we worked on earlier this year in February. It contains fragments that belong to an earlier version of the project, which was based on impressions that rang true during covid, so I’d like to think that this project has evolved with the emotions of the last few months.

This is how I would describe the soundtrack for the film: The City He Forgets Playlist. Far from anything official, given our modest budget, this is mostly a curation of a desired soundscape for the project and something that I have used while working on it.

 

If any of this resonates with you, please consider supporting the campaign. The team behind The City He Forgets (Tashina, Marcus and I) would appreciate all kinds of contributions and we hope that the perks included here appeal to you. 

FROM HERE ON OUT

This film was originally planned for an April shoot so this entire campaign and production has been adjusted keeping with the latest COVID-19 developments. 

Presently we are finalizing cast and enlisting the most bare minimum crew for the project. We are prepared to have the entire team tested before shoot to ensure that we can work safely around each other. In addition, masks will be mandated on set in both interior and exterior situations, and we are working with a Certified Covid Compliance Officer to protect our crew.  The film shows people as wearing masks so it's an idea that all of us on board should get easily accustomed to!

Prayers for a safe rest of 2020 for all of us.