A story of a girl who balances her religion and passion on the tip of her toes.

سْـــــــــمِ ﷲِالرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم 

A STORY ABOUT BALANCE

An aspiring ballerina and also a devoted Muslim, Suraya's 16 year-old fresh mind wonders why can't she have the best of both worlds? Isn't chasing your dream a virtue? 

When she lands the main role in an Adam and Eve play, Suraya thought it's God's reward for the hard works she put through. Ballerinas balance themselves on the tip of their toe, Suraya thought she could handle the hectic of the training, while still obeying her religious demands as a way to be grateful. However, it soon becomes a test when her priority is blurred by her passion. She realizes that making choice is inevitable

Suraya is the name of the main character but truth be told, if we were to change the title, it could be the name of anyone of us because we've all been there.

Bold enough to even think we can have too much in our plates.

INSPIRATION

In the real life, Suraya's name is actually Zulaikha, the director of the movie itself. During one of the scriptwriting classes, the lecturer asked each person to revisit their old self and find the moments the students think are worth filming for.

When her turn came, she sat on the chair, telling everyone about this 12-year old girl who dreamt of becoming a ballerina. Her dream was "threatened" when she reached her adolescence.

She knew if she would choose to be a ballerina, she would become a ballerina forever. 

She finished her story, telling everyone she couldn't do the "plie" anymore.

She later turned her story into a screenplay, naming it "Suraya", the name of her mother.

WHO ARE WE?

RealBig Pictures consists of passionate final year students of MMU Nusajaya's Faculty of Cinematic Arts in Malaysia. A group of 5, we are :

• Zulaikha (Director)
• Novel (Producer)
• Azhar (Writer)
• Nadim (Cinematographer)
• Liyana (Editor). 

The final year students are also the first batch of the course, marking Suraya as one of the 6 first graduation films ever produced in the faculty. Lacking of references from previous graduates' films, we are both ecstatic, while of course nervous in producing this short film because while it will be a major part in our portfolio, we are also carrying the school's reputation.

Our principal photography will begin next year in January 2016. As of right now, we are still in the pre-production phase.

IMPACT

Suraya is not a short film that intends to preach. It's also not an attention seeker, trying to be controversial for the sake of gaining audience.

It's a short film that tackles the dilemma inside our heads.

We sincerely hope that our short film will gain the interest of so many of you because the story we are telling, although has a potential to be controversial, is a reflection of reality on many levels. We are telling the story about us, and about you. Of course, we hope that something positive can be taken from the short film.

We plan on sending this short film to various film festivals, locals and internationals for competitions and also screenings. We will also conduct our own screenings in performing arts centers. Perhaps, this movie will be available online after these screenings in websites like Vimeo and Vidsee.

Religions have never been bad to us. Religions let us be what we want. Still, to what extend can we brag about the free will? 

SPREAD IT OUT, BY CASH OR BY BEING LOUD

We would really appreciate if you can get the words out. We all know how fast news travel nowadays and it would be great if the story of Suraya can reach countries or continents we didn't even think it would reach.

Also, pls pray for us that this project will be a success :)

Financial has always been both a curse and a blessing in filmmaking. 

Suraya is an ambitious project. We are willing to go beyond for this. Although it's a final year project, this won't be just another disposable student film. We are hoping to decorate this film with its own original score and choreography. 

The quality of the acting is very important to us. A good story won't work if not presented well by the cast. Therefore, we are also aiming for some familiar faces in the industry to come aboard. Locations, and equipment rents are among our worries as well. Therefore, we have to find an alternative and MyStartr is one of our platforms to gain crowd and hopefully, the funding for our short film.

We are more than grateful if you are willing to donate to us in making this short film a success. We will be more than happy to put your names in the credit title. For Malaysians, we are willing to conduct screenings in your places as well.

But even with all those, we still can't pay the gratitude. Thus, we will keep you in our prayers.