A perspective on short film making

By MARTIN FABINYI

Neer Shelter’s short film, Perspectives, has been selected for inclusion in this year’s Flickerfest program. The film has a Hitchcockian flavour in its tense, insightful and well-crafted story.

“Hitchcock”, Neer says, “has been a massive influence on me, as he has been on many filmmakers. Other filmmakers that heavily influenced me on Perspectives were Robert Bresson and Vittorio De Sica. Each of them used silence with incredible precision and to great effect.”

Set in Israel, a soldier on a bus is disturbed by the actions of another passenger. She needs to decide how to react to a potential suicide bomber while the event is streamed live. Filmed in Israel and the Palestinian territories it features Joy Rieger, an acclaimed Israeli actress who won Best Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival for her film Vierges (2018). 

Neer, who is of Egyptian-British descent, grew up on ships around the world and spent three years in the Israeli military.

“My military experiences were less relevant to the film’s narrative and more influential over its themes. One thing I noticed after my service was the disparity between actual military events and the discourse around them, a phenomenon social media enhances. Therefore, Perspectives’ title is reflective of its themes. The short film appears to focus on a hot-topic political subject, yet it is really about how opinions form around it,” he explains.

Neer gained years of experience in the industry following his studies, reading for companies such as StudioCanal, Coverfly, and The Story Doctor. Neer also worked on set and in post on multiple films, including Elvis, Thor, The Great Gatsby, The Wolverine, Gods of Egypt, and many more. Regarding the potential of working in the higher budget space, he says:

“Given the opportunity, I would very much like to write for bigger-budget projects. Those jobs are highly coveted, and even having the opportunity to pitch on writing assignments can be hard enough, more so landing one. So, the hurdles are enormous, but the optimist in me says it will make the achievement in the end that much sweeter. Having worked in various parts of the film industry for well over a decade, I’ve learned never to stop learning.”

His work has seen him join the LA firm, The Cartel, a boutique management and production company which represents some of Hollywood’s top tier writers, directors and show runners, and has produced over 100 projects including television series, feature films, and television movies. 

Neer was a semi-finalist in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, a Page Award Winner and many more.

flickerfest.com.au/film/perspectives