Courtesy of Jonathan Perry and Claire Shinner
While maintaining privacy can feel like an impossible feat in this day and age, the Sentinelese have managed to pull it off for millennia.
Native to North Sentinel Island – a union territory “belonging” to India and situated in the Bay of Bengal – the Sentinelese people are ironically renowned for their obscurity. Having eluded the pervasive reach of European colonialism, the tribe continues to reject any prolonged contact with the wider world, going so far as to kill trespassers who threaten its solitude.
Naturally, intrigue surrounding the Sentinelese only grows with each passing year. Jonathan Perry, a filmmaker hailing from Ohio and a current junior at The Ohio State University, aims to satiate some of the public’s curiosity via his upcoming cinematic venture.
Courtesy of Jonathan Perry and Claire Shinner
Entitled Sentinelese, the fictional film falls into the action and thriller genres. When a Sentinelese boy is swept away by ocean currents, he finds an unlikely savior in a Burmese fishing slave. His safety, however, is far from ensured. Conflict looms as the boy is pulled onto a poaching boat that becomes stranded in shallow waters. Caught between a rock and a hard place, with the Sentinelese inland and India’s Coast Guard in close proximity, the poachers struggle to make a clean getaway.
Despite the fact Sentinelese is “the first live action film about North Sentinel Island,” according to Perry’s production company Muybridge Inc., filming actually took place in the Caribbean. Cast and crew worked tirelessly to complete the 30-day shoot in St. Kitts and Nevis; during the process, they navigated shark-infested waters and collaborated with more than 70 locals. Perry himself was still recovering from a broken kneecap while producing and directing the movie.
The planning and writing stages were similarly arduous. Wanting Sentinelese to be firmly rooted in anthropological research, Perry consulted numerous experts in the field. Thus, the limited yet valuable information available regarding the Sentinelese tribe was taken into account from the project’s inception.
Courtesy of Jonathan Perry and Claire Shinner
As of now, Sentinelese is scheduled to be released on March 19, 2023. Additional information and updates will be made available on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the coming months.
Lucy Lawler is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback is welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
