After you’ve binge-watched the many interesting documentaries available on streaming platforms, are you left wondering how to delve deeper into the topic? Or perhaps how to get in touch with a fellow fan to strike up a conversation? This is exactly the thought that drove Ratheesh Krishnan and Guruprasad Sharma of SPI Edge towards forming Thinnai Talkies, a monthly initiative aimed at extending the dialogue beyond movies.
Launched on August 20, with the première of Dutch filmmaker Andreas van de Laar’s documentary, One Point Seven , the experiential platform is “a chance to converse with and confront the director on various views, to take the idea further,” says Ratheesh, Head of Experiments and New Ventures, SPI Group. He explains how the idea is to create a physical platform for films and documentaries to be showcased for dialogue, debate and perhaps appreciation. “All filmmakers aspire to see how the audience move when the lights go off. We just want to enable that for serious documentaries by making it exciting, and giving the films the exposure they deserve.”
Clockwise from top left: Ratheesh Krishnan, Guruprasad Sharma, Aashik Joel M and S Durga Devi
The duo believes that while watching documentaries online or even in theatres is great, it tends to become more of a one-way conversation. And many go unnoticed — take, for instance, Period. End Of Sentence. Until the Academy Awards were announced, nobody knew it even existed, he says. “There are multiple angles that we, as viewers, would love to explore and get answers to, and delve deeper into the topic. But all this comes to an abrupt end once the film ends, and makes for a little more than a two-minute conversation on the drive home,” says Guruprasad.
Elaborating on how the name came to be, Ratheesh says that the idea took off from the Thinnai (a raised platform or veranda found in traditional South Indian architecture). “It was the most accessible part of our homes connecting it to the world outside. It was where people had conversations and where traditional businesses such as pottery and weaving had their base. It’s a space where everyone is welcome and we wanted to create a similar ‘transition zone’ connecting people. The word ‘talkies’ was borrowed from Mani Ratnam’s Madras Talkies, since we are huge fans of his work,” he explains. Apart from Guruprasad as Project Associate, S Durga Devi and Aashik Joel M form the creative team.
But it’s not just film screenings that the initiative brings to viewers, but a Q and A session and a panel discussion. At Thinnai Talkies, the film/documentary’s director will always be present and the following discussions or ‘tent quota’ will be contextual to your viewing experience. “The screenings will always be held on the second Tuesday of every month. It’s a conscious choice of a weekday to give people a choice to pick from a film in the theatre or head for a documentary. The audiences are also informed of the next event and we get them to nominate panellists,” says Ratheesh.
The next screening on September 10 brings Mithun Bajaj’s 2017 feature documentary, Fighting on Ice, to the city. At Curio Play, Alwarpet. To register, visit http://bit.ly/ thinnai-talkies
