HUMAN O.A.K THE ONLY INTERNATIONAL CO PRODUCTION FILM FROM INDIA DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

Jyothi Venkatesh

Indian film producer & promoter, Jitendra Mishra, who is known for his recent film The Last Color by Chef Vikas Khanna, Desires of the heart and many others, collaborated with Award Winning Italian Director, Producer, Ulisse Lendaro, to make a short film “Human O.A. K” inspired by COVID-19 Pandemic. The 15-minute short film was entirely shot in Italy during the lockdown in March – April 2020 in the Vicenza’s downtown and the countryside. The only international co-production from India, which has happened during the Covid-19 lockdown, Human O.A.K was written & directed by Ulisse Lendaro very well known for his earlier feature film “Imperfect Age”. The film features leading Italian actress & former Miss Italia Anna Valle. Made to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Ode to the West Wind”; written two years before he died by drowning aged only 29, HUMAN O.A.K. is the story of a new type of humanity.

“Human O.A.K. was thought and realized in the lock down period. If there had not been the Covid-19 I would never have thought and shot it. I wanted to do something absolutely poetic, something delicate, something that spoke about the pandemic but in a gentle way. Because in such tragedies like the Covid-19, the affections of people who love each other and their possible loss, are the most important thing of all. I wanted to start from a poem that was possibly related to a pandemic. I read “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, all his biography and his connections with India, with Mahatma Gandhi & Rabindranath Tagore. So, I immediately felt the strong need to talk about this idea with my friend and well-known producer Jitendra Mishra, whom I had met in the Czech Republic a few years ago and we became good friends. We shared the same mindset & approach toward good world cinema”, shared Director Ulisse Lendaro. “Jitendra gave me a lot of good advice about the mood of the short film. It was an exchange, a continuous flow of energy and ideas which led to the making of Human O.A.K. It was the demand of the story that we shot it during lockdown”, he further added.

“When Ulisse Lendaro approached me to discuss his idea, I found it very interesting. It was a great opportunity to create a positive environment in the global film industry during this dreadful situation. The story of the movie had a lot of positivity and its connection to India inspired me to co-produce the movie with such a sensible film maker like Ulisse Lendaro”, shared Indian Film Producer & promoter, Jitendra Mishra. “The movie will be showcased at few leading International festivals before releasing on renowned OTT Platform in India soon”, he further added.Human O.A.K was shot with a very limited cast & crew because of the social distancing norms of Covid-19 lockdown.

The entire film was shot outdoors and in a remote location outside the city, except for a few montages. Pluri-award-winning and talented Massimo Cantini Parrini has designed the costume for the movie. Post production of the movie has been done in Roma by Lightcut film srl.

HUMAN O.A.K. is the story of a child who, in the time of a sunset, becomes a girl, forced to quickly leave behind the life she had, before everything changed, the memory of her mother with whom she used to play and their poems that now sound like an omen. In an abstract, melancholic present, drenched in nature, this little girl continues her journey until she reaches a large oak tree. There, among books hung to mature, she meets another child, a little boy. Maybe they already knew each other. Among visions of a recent past, memories and nature, life is renewed for all humanity.