Freelance theatre artiste Amrita Roy started I Am There, a depression prevention initiative, after suffering from depression herself. “A lot of my family and friends did not understand what I was going through. Though they wanted the best for me, they were not equipped with the knowledge of how they could help me. From then on, I wanted to talk about things that we don’t talk about normally. That is my reason for creating films or content with social messages.”
In that regard, Amrita directed and edited a short film during the lockdown titled Within . “I was researching a few topics and the subject of child abuse, the trauma caused by it, and dissociative identity disorder was in my mind for quite some time. The idea was that if we show the extreme, then people may open up about the small issues also.”
Featuring Amrita, Aniruddh Roy and Kheyati Kauntia, the film is in black and white, partly to maintain balance (considering it has been shot remotely) and improve cinematic quality, she adds.
Talking about the challenge of shooting during the lockdown, she says, “It was a lot of work to be done alone. The child artiste’s family were actually dealing with the effects of Cyclone Amphan. But they still went ahead and shot Kheyati’s part two days after the cyclone hit.” Amrita adds with a laugh that Kheyati would also start smiling when she saw the camera. However, ultimately they got the required footage.
The film is part of the official selection of the Social Distancing Film Festival 2020 Toronto, 2nd KFTI International Film Festival 2020 Mumbai, Andromeda Film Festival Turkey 2020 and Roshani International Film Festival Aurangabad 2020.
