Checkpost

Wow, fantastic, wasn't expecting that at all, so different from the film directors previous short films.

Checkpost is a tautly, smart and timely commercial short film blessed with credibility and intelligence. It has plenty of excitement exuberance, and a complicated plot to back up.

The performances in this film were essentially superb, especially the boy and father truck driver scenes in Pakistan. It has a fascinating tone that allows the viewer to be enriched with fantastic cinematography and lots of interesting international news bulletins. Checkpost also handles the theme of "Media portrayal" with plenty of maturity and respect.

The film also touches on the issue of "Drone Attacks and Terrorism" Checkpost is a well-done entertaining fast moving short film with great scenes and a multi layered story line. Aneel Ahmads direction is blended with fantastic technical skills. Well done Aneel and congratulations

From the outset, Aneel Ahmad integrates the everyday hazards of the local population with the pressure that the modern media places on the demand of immediate 24 hour news coverage. Highlighting the dangers faced by all concerned, he cleverly relays the impact that one seemingly small incident can have on more than the immediate protagonists as the reactions are felt far beyond the borders of the incident.

Scripted by Raees Mahmood, and with a remarkably small budget Checkpost embarks on a poignant message that entwines emotions with undertones of responsibility towards those in authority and power and scrutinising the rippling effects of such tragedies.

Checkpost is one of the best political short films that I have seen in ages. Gripping!

Last night I was thinking about what to write and I felt a bit speechless/wordless. It was like watching the Jason Bourne series. The film opened with a blast and griped my suspense all the way. It's clever, tense and has great action.

I have seen loads of short films over the years and they look like short films, but this one (Checkpost) is like watching a feature film. It was a real treat and the music acting camera work direction was seriously amazing. A must see.

Checkpost deserves all the praise it is getting. Well done to the entire team, especially Aneel Ahmad, he is one to watch out for.

With so much propaganda to wade through these days with regards to US and UK troop involvement in hostile environments. It is refreshing to see a short film from the UK that focuses on the effects our governing/ defending/meddling (delete where applicable) has on the local families who live in these same areas as well as the people who's job it is to report from them.

Aneel Ahmads Checkpost is an explosive, political drama that scrutinizes the western world's handling of war, by placing its media very much in the spotlight. Where the desperate need for a good story in the days of 24 hr news coverage takes precedent over everything else, including human life.

Filmed over three continents and with a script by Raees Mahmood Khan so full of character, subtext and political swipes, it never stops scoring points, Ahmad weaves a visceral, thrill ride of emotion and anger into 12 minutes of film you wish was so much longer.

It is very rare for feature films, never mind shorts, to make you feel something. Checkpost is a film you will be talking about long after the final credits have rolled and one that will be remembered by many people for many years to come.

Aneel Ahmad's short film Checkpost could be described as a political thriller. It is masterful in the way it both builds tension and raises important political questions in the space of a brief narrative.

The first few minutes of the film are tense and intriguing, as the viewer wonders how the three narratives, centring around three very different protagonists, will intertwine. One character is an ambitious but morally dubious British journalist. The second a Pakistani truck driver going about his daily business in the company of his young son. The third is a British documentary filmmaker on location in Lahore. When the pivotal moment of film, an assassination, finally comes, the tension breaks and the pace of the film changes to one of panic and confusion. Clever camera work, precise editing, and a perfectly-pitched musical score are used first to hold the viewer's interest, and then to capture the chaos of the film's dramatic denouement.

The Machiavellian actions of the journalist raise questions about media ethics in an age where the media doesn't just report on a story, but defines what is and what is not newsworthy. The three narratives give us three different perspectives on the same event, and remind us that the political events of our time are far from clear cut, in spite of what the Western media might imply. The chaos of the film's ending is indicative of the chaos of 24/7 media, where events are reported before their significance or context can begin to be analysed. The quiet plight of the Pakistani man and his son is contrasted with the fate of the filmmaker which is reported around the world, asking moral questions of both the media and those that consume it.