AustLit

'ShoPaapaa delves deeply into the 2020 lockdown experience in London and was made entirely remotely by Australian Molly Reynolds (My Name is Gulpilil) and UK-based creative Shekhar Bassi. Co-produced by Rolf de Heer.

'Physically compromised, filmmaker Bassi has been shielded and totally isolated in suburban London for six months during the pandemic. A trained actor, Bassi plays a partly fictionalised version of himself. In a monologue that has no audience, he contemplates his existence in lockdown. Somehow, in this age of uncertainty he still believes the future is bright. Reynolds had been keen to work with Bassi for a while, and when 2020 placed him in the eye of the storm, so to speak, he finally agreed. Cinematically audacious, ShoPaapaa explores the edges between drama and documentary in the worst of times and the best of times.'

Source: Sydney Film Festival.