The Invisible Humans (Honorable Mention -5 Minutes)

This film takes the viewer into a world of shadows which conceal some magical beings – the elderly citizens, who have been forced into oblivion during the pandemic. The viewer is reminded to light up the lives of these invisible humans.

Director: Aaron Mathew
Length: 03:00
Country: India
Language: Malayalam
Year: 2020

Additional Info

Director Biography: Aaron Mathew hails from the quaint state of Kerala in southern India. After completing his graduation in engineering, he started working in advertising as a copywriter. Within two years, he took up film-making as a career and started assisting in regional feature films. The Invisible Humans is his debut film as a director.

Director Statement: The idea for this film came about when my grandfather, who was a driving enthusiast despite his age, told me that he wanted to sell his car. He thought he might never get a chance to drive it again because of the restrictions and boundaries the pandemic had enforced on them. Upon doing some research, we found that 11% of India's population are senior citizens. That is, 151 million people were shut inside their homes, having had to change their lives forever. This drove us to make this film. The initial idea was to show the public places where we are so used to seeing the elderly citizens, but now without their presence. All the places they frequented, now empty. This led us to various locations in rural parts of Kerala (a Southern state in India), where we actually experienced this ourselves. Then, we started incorporating a story arc to this, with my grandmother as the central character. Finally, the narration shaped up where we brought in elements of magic and shadows, connecting the whole film to that theme.

Producer: Aaron Mathew
Writer: Sreejith Balagopal