Happy Halloween! - No Tricks, All Treats

Family pumpkins carved October 2014.

Ghouls, ghosts and goblins!  We have arrived at one of my favorite days of the year - Halloween!  In anticipation of this fabulous, spooky, fun holiday,  I’ve decorated the house with ghosts, spiders and their webs, dismembered body parts, monsters and bats flying overhead.  What can I say?  I’m excited like a kid ready to knock door-to-door for delicious, sugary treats.  

I’m already well into my Halloween celebration.  This past Sunday, I threw my family’s traditional Halloween party, an event I’ve taken over for my dearly departed mother who always found so much joy in throwing family dinners and get togethers, including our annual Halloween party.  Over the years, our family has celebrated the holiday with storytelling, games, pumpkin carving competitions, scary movies, trick-o-treating and lots of good food and sweet treats.

I suppose one of the reasons I love Halloween is that it’s filled with family and fun.  But I also love Halloween because it’s the one day of the year you can be whatever you choose to be.  A day of dress up when you can don a costume or mask and be free of gender, race and age and, therefore, the preconceived notions of others based upon them.  

And isn’t it just fun to play dress up?  To imagine yourself to be stronger, braver, wilder, wackier, more famous, more powerful, more super than you already are?  Or maybe you’re the type who likes to dip into the dark side and explore the menacing and macabre, dressing up as something wicked, undead or down-right terrifying.  

With a plethora of superhero and zombie films ruling the box office over the past several years, superhero and zombie Halloween costumes are as popular as ever.  Now, dragging my undead body around trying to avoid a Zombieland double tap doesn’t sound nearly as fun as having superhuman, physics-defying, superpowers and saving the world.  That said, I’d choose being a superhero over a zombie any day.  

Actually, I love superheroes and long for superpowers so much that I began producing and directing a superhero short film titled Priyanath this fall.

A production still from the short film "Priyanath" starring Likith Yalam.

The film stars Likith Yalam who plays six year-old Priyanath, a boy who imagines himself to be a superhero taking down imaginary villains with his extraordinary powers.  Fighting pretend bad guys is easy.  But when Priyanath learns of a real danger near his home, he must decide if he’s actually got what it takes to be a real life superhero.  And one ominous night will determine his fate. Will young Priyanath become a hero or fall victim to the danger around him?  Well, you’ll have to wait to see the film to find out!  Inspired by true events, Priyanath is a thrilling, superhero tale, embodying the spirit of youth and fearlessness.

It’s been a blast working on the film.  We’ve have a talented crew of professionals and an outstanding cast to bring this film to life.  Our cast includes Krishna Smitha and Ram Lakkoju who star alongside our young star Likith Yalam.  Working with Likith and dressing him up as a superhero reminded me a lot of Halloween.  We got to play and use our imaginations to create our own little world.   And it’s been a lot of fun.  I guess one of the best things about filmmaking is that it’s a lot like Halloween, full of costumes, make-up and characters; and sometimes it’s scary too!  

Happy Halloween, Everyone!  

Love,
Anietie

Family pumpkins carved in 2013.

Anietie Antia-Obong is the founder of Shaken World Screenworks, the go-to, full service, video production company for the world’s the movers, shakers, innovators, activists, entrepreneurs, visionaries and other wavemakers.  Find out more at www.shakenworld.com.