NEON TANK PRODUCTION.
Mikey Bharj has completed an epic quest. He’s secured his directorial debut, the 40-minute feature Neon Tank, and a coveted spot on Amazon’s streaming platform – all with a budget of just £3k SHOESTRING SCI-FI
WORDS. Will Lawrence IMAGES. Stephen Ruttley ILLUSTRATION. Stephen Gilliam
A visually stylised sci-fi story that leans heavily into the world of film noir, Neon Tank follows the journey of a hacker in dystopian London, selling souls on the black market and becoming entangled in a world of cybercrime dominated by ruthless gangs. Bharj plays the lead character, Styx, as well as taking up the role of writer, director, producer, editor, composer – and a whole lot more in-between. “When working like this, you need people to bounce off,” begins Bharj, 32. “I relied on Jacob Clubbs, who did all the props and helped with the story; the other main actor Paul Reynolds, who inspired me to make the film; and Stephen Ruttley, one of the executive producers.
“It’s like we were the hobbits,” he laughs. “Jacob was my Samwise, while Paul and Stephen were Merry and Pippin. We went on this adventure together – we left the Shire and things will never be the same again. Only I could cast the ring away – and I often wanted to give up. I was waiting for the eagles to arrive, but they never came!” And yet, just like Frodo, Bharj completed his quest. His film – taking around six weeks of photography, shot in two blocks beginning before the Covid-19 lockdown – was filed to the Amazon team in July and went live in September. It’s been a long journey. Neon Tank ’s origins can be traced back to a passion for film born in childhood, shared with
ALL-ROUNDER Mikey Bharj wrote, directed, produced, edited, composed the score for and starred in Neon Tank. Working with a small team and a tight budget, it would be fair to call this a true passion project
55. NOVEMBER 2022
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