On Apr 16, 2020, Hadi Azmi discovered the death of a friend whom he had met through filmmaking.

“One thing I thought was peculiar was him posting an advertisement on a Facebook forum, seeking to sell all his camera equipment. All of it. Those were his livelihood, and he was particularly attached to them. So to see him looking to pawn it off felt off,” he said.

It was the start of the movement control order (MCO) at the time, an anti-Covid-19 measure that resulted in many people struggling to make ends meet.

Hadi thought it was merely his friend’s way of sustaining from the harsh impacts of the lockdown, but that was not the case.

“I thought it was him feeling the pinch and...