A Collaborative Film Project

The Owner is an ambitious filmmaking collective, brought to life by the international co-production film group called, CollabFeature. It involves twenty-five filmmakers from around the world that have simultaneously shot over five continents, but have never met each other. Yet, they harness both the power of technology and film enthusiasm to create – a singular narrative plot that brings together a variety of cultures, languages and film styles using the internet as a vehicle of collaboration.

USA-based directors, Marty Shea and Ian Bonner, initiated the project in 2009. They wanted to create a film collaborative involving a backpack – which is exactly what the story does. It follows the ‘adventures of an old backpack, which is passed from character to character around the world. As the journey progresses, we learn details about the mysterious man to whom the bag belongs.’

‘Each segment is in a different genre, style and language,’ says Neha Raheja Thakker, who is part of the Indian arm of the project. In an interview with Artinfo she adds, ‘apart from the backpack, there is the idea of connection that runs through the film; the characters trying to connect to each other, the filmmakers trying to connect across borders and time zones.’

Which is why, it comes as no surprise that even the premier of the film on Friday, May 25th, 2012 was collaborative. Each filmmaker hosted night screenings in theaters, in their own cities, on the same night.

The Owner, so far has already broken the Guinness World Record by having 25 directors on board and CollabFeature plans to take that to a new level, this time by having 50 directors on board for their next feature._

By: Tanvi Chug
Follow me on Twitter: @Chimerical_T