AM№ 01 · Kochi
Aisha Menon
Co-founder · Director
Writes and directs. Grew up two lanes from a single-screen theatre and has been trying to get back inside it ever since.
The studio · Mumbai · Est. 2019
A small company
for small films.
We are a director and a producer, a development brain and an editor — plus a regular circle of collaborators who make the work possible. Independent by design, not by accident.
Work with us- Founded
- 2019
- Based
- Mumbai, India
- Team
- 04 + collaborators
- In-house shorts
- 05
- Languages
- 05
01 — The story
“A close-up is not a small view.”
We began in 2019 with a borrowed camera, a room above a printing press, and a short film that was supposed to take three months. It took eleven. We finished it anyway.
The name comes from the lens we keep reaching for. A macro lens does not make the world smaller; it makes the details unavoidable. We are still based between Kochi, where Aisha grew up two lanes from a single-screen theatre, and Mumbai, where Rohan was producing commercials and dreaming of something with a longer shelf life.
Since then we have made 5 short films in 5 languages, played at 20 festival selections, and picked up 9 awards. But the numbers are not the reason we keep going. The reason is simpler: we like the room after a screening, when someone stays behind to ask a question.
We stay deliberately small. The company is four people and a regular circle of collaborators. We take on one or two in-house films a year, plus selected commissions that leave us enough room to think. We would rather make fewer films properly than more films quickly.
A short film is not a stepping stone for us. It is the form we chose — the one that lets us take a single idea and give it everything, without asking it to become something else.
Aisha Menon & Rohan Kulkarni
Founders
Registered as Micro Lens Films LLP, Mumbai.
GSTIN available on request.
02 — What we believe
Three rules
we keep returning to.
They are not slogans. They are the things we check before we say yes, and the things we return to when a film gets difficult.
01
Short is not small.
A short film is a complete thought, not a calling card. We give it the same development, the same crew care, and the same finishing standards as a feature.
02
The crew is the film.
We work with the same collaborators across films because trust compounds. Small, well-rested teams make braver choices than large, tired ones.
03
Finish it properly.
Subtitles, sound mix, colour, DCP, press kit, and a plan for where it will be seen. The last ten per cent is not admin; it is the film.
03 — The process
The long way,
on purpose.
No handovers until the film is in front of an audience. One producer, one director, one continuous conversation from page to premiere.
01
The read
We start with a page, not a pitch deck. Send the script, the treatment, or the sentence you cannot shake. The first conversation is about the story, never the budget.
ScriptTreatmentOne-line
02
The room
Two weeks around a table: budget, crew, locations, and the one question every scene must answer. We plan for the shot we mean to get, not the one we hope for.
BudgetCrewLocations
03
The shoot
Small units, available light where it is honest, and a schedule that protects the performances. Everyone on set knows what the film is about.
ProductionDirectionSound
04
The finish
Grade, mix, subtitles, DCP, and a festival plan that begins before the first submission. A film is not finished until it has been watched properly.
PostDCPFestival release
Development usually takes 3–6 months. Production, 4–8 days. Post, 8–12 weeks. We publish a realistic schedule before we begin, and we keep to it.
Tell us about your film04 — The people
The room
around the table.
Four people on the company, many more on the call sheet. We credit the crew properly, pay them properly, and keep coming back to the same names.
RK№ 02 · Mumbai
Rohan Kulkarni
Co-founder · Producer
Runs the slate and the spreadsheets. Believes a good schedule is a form of kindness to the crew.
MI№ 03 · Chennai
Meera Iyer
Development · Festival strategy
Finds the sentence inside the draft. Has a spreadsheet of every festival deadline until 2029.
AD№ 04 · Kolkata
Arjun Das
Editor · Colourist
Cuts to the rhythm of a room, not a beat. Keeps a notebook of endings that almost worked.
Regular collaborators
Nayantara Bose — Cinematography
Faisal Khan — Sound design
Tara Pinto — Production design
Sanjay Warrier — Music
Anoushka Rao — Music
05 — What we do
In-house,
and with others.
Our own slate comes first. Alongside it, we take on a small number of commissions and collaborations each year — always with the same crew standards.
Development
- Script and treatment development
- Story consulting and dramaturgy
- Casting and location scouting
- Budget and schedule design
Production
- Short fiction and documentary
- Branded films and commissions
- Full crew and equipment packages
- Line production across India
Post-production
- Edit and picture lock
- Colour grading
- Sound design and final mix
- Subtitling and DCP mastering
Release
- Festival strategy and submissions
- Press kits and stills
- Screenings and Q&As
- Distribution and sales support
We are not an agency and we do not run a rental house. We are a small production company that can assemble the right team for the right film, and we say no when the fit is not there. If you are unsure whether your project is one of ours, write anyway.
Come make something
small with us.
We are always reading. Send a script, a treatment, or a question. If we cannot make it, we will try to point you toward someone who can.