When an airline pilot’s troubled past resurfaces, she fights back to save her family and career from a trafficker that ruined her childhood.
Mayank Sharma embarked on the journey to explore his creative writing talent when he became a published author in 2017. He attended the New York Film Academy's screenwriting program. In the UK Film Festival 2022, his script made up to Phase 3 which was the long list of the final top 40.
What makes you fascinated with the cinematic language and what was the first film project you worked on?
The fact that vivid colors emerging from ups and downs of real life often inspire the reel language fascinates me quite a lot. It is the very same language that has the power to involve audience emotionally with both the characters and the plot. It is my honor to have my first screenplay, Lady’s Wings, nominated in Montreal Independent Film Festival 2022. Please tell us how your film came to life and let us know about the process from pre-production to completion. I have adapted this feature screenplay from my debut novel that was inspired by some true tearjerking incidents of human trafficking. This is a compelling character-led drama that I have translated into a distinctive and unique international crime thriller. I am still putting my best foot forward to take this script to screen. What was the most challenging aspect of working on this genre? One of the most challenging aspects of working on a character-led drama is how to emotionally engage audience with a perfect blend of protagonist’s external, internal journeys, and central conflict. The way characters grow or are revealed when story settles down needs to be impactful and emotionally satisfying so that the core message remains in movie-goers’ minds for long. What is your next film project and what are you currently working on? I am currently pitching Lady’s Wings to producers and agents in Hollywood. My next project is the journey of a transgender character who has become the highest earning social media influencer in London. What is the most creative part of directing a project for you?
Though being a screenwriter, I believe that the most creative part of directing a project is to keep audience involved with a memorable visual experience that they’ve never seen before. Does the language of cinema stand out more than other arts to you? And why?
One of the main reasons why people watch cinema is to imagine emotions through characters’s feelings on the screen. The very same language has the potential to make the audience laugh out loud when characters experience pleasure and cry when the characters feel pain. Why do you make films?
My goal to create films is to give movie-goers an emotionally satisfying experience by spreading hope and optimism, especially after the pandemic, through the audio-visual medium.