A young filmmaker’s dream

Shapath Das is the only Indian and South Asian to have been selected for the Locarno Pro U30 Programme

July 23, 2019 07:14 pm | Updated 07:22 pm IST

A love for cinema and the desire to carve a niche for himself inspired Shapath Das to become an entrepreneur and film director. The 26-year-old has come along way — with the help of French cinema’s highest authority CNC (Centre National du cinema et de l’image animee) Institut Francais, he has signed a partnership with Produire Au Sud, Festival 3 continents and Arthouse Asia Film Festival, set up by Doab Uncut Motion, run by Shapath. He has also been selected for the Locarno Pro U30 program, which encourages exchange on key issues in cinema among filmmakers under the age of 30. The event will be held from August 9 to 11 and will explore the theme Audience of the Future.

Shapath, who divides his time between Kolkata and Bengaluru, says, “I always had a love for cinema and would watch a lot of films during the summer holidays while growing up in Kolkata. But it was only when I moved to Bengaluru in 2010 to study engineering that a friend introduced me to world cinema.” He then began attending film festivals across Bengaluru. “I was a regular at master classes and workshops held at Suchitra Film Society.”

Eventually, Shapath became a part of Bengaluru’s thriving Bengali theatre productions brought out by the likes of Ranjon Ghoshal and Amitava Baksy. “Around this time, I moved a little away from film making, but continued watching films,” says Shapath who has directed several short films such as Conviction, Vanish, and co-directed Ipseity with Sudeep Chatterjee, apart from The Old Man and the Girl with Afzal Hossain Munna, an India-Bangladesh Co-Production and Dusk with Ujjal Paul.

Shapath adds: “I am also producing another short film Boutique , which is in pre-production stage. I am also writing my first feature film, which was selected at Torino Film Lab, Italy.”

He believes he found expression with the founding of Doab Uncut Motion in 2015. “I wanted to start a digitally-driven film production house that would provide a platform for independent film makers and help them with matters of funding. Doab means ‘a piece of fertile land between two’ in Hindi. I chose this name as it is an allusion to nurturing the seed of talent in young filmmakers. Uncut, on the other hand, is indicative of clearing the path of independent filmmakers from various obstacles.” At present, Doab Uncut supports two film festivals — Asia Independent in Bengaluru and Arthouse Asia in Kolkata.

Shapath is excited that he is the only Indian and South Asian who has been selected for the Locarno Pro U30 program. “I applied for it and approached international film festival programmer Deepti D’Cunha. She acknowledged my work, recommended me and I was selected,” says Shapath.

The young filmmaker could have easily chosen to settle down in Mumbai, the city of film dreams, but he chose not to. “I find it quite commercial. I wanted to work in Bengaluru and Kolkata.”

As of now, through initiatives like Asia Independent, Shapath hopes to give a platform for independent filmmakers and enable them to showcase their films in an organised manner at film festivals.

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