Film festivals are a celebrations of ideas, collaborations, stories, and people. Besides showcasing their films, filmmakers also get a platform to share their journey and insights with film enthusiasts and aspiring filmmakers at various seminars and master classes. At the 10th edition of BIFFes, three first-time directors came together to share their dreams and passion. They spoke about the budget and the stories they chose to tell in their films.
While we are used to watching films with massive sets and a huge star cast, with an equally large number of people working behind the camera, three directors preferred to take the smaller route. French director, Dimitri De Clercq, Mahesh Narayanan ( Take-off ) and Ratnottama Sengupta were the panellists.
Ratnottama, the daughter of the legendary screen writer and Bengali littérateur Nabendu Ghosh started off the discussion by talking about her documentary And They Made Classics . She made the film to “let the next generation know about my father’s works.”
The film takes the viewer behind the scenes — sharing interviews with the late writer, his work, and his association with people such as Bimal Roy, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Nutan, Dipi Kumar, Gulzar, and more.
“The film talks about his journey, accompanied with powerful visuals that depict his life and passion for cinema,” says Ratnottama, who was the moderator at the session.
French producer-director, Dimitri spoke about the budget he likes to work with.
The first thing about making a film, he said is to “wake up with the same dream for four or five years. It can be a dream about a story, the idea or the manner in which you want to make a film. I wanted to make You Go To My Head like those Hollywood films of the 70s.”
Dimitri said having worked as a producer for years helped him understand the process of filmmaking better. “As a producer I have often seen that the director’s dream becomes a producer’s nightmare. Then came a moment when I felt my nightmare should also become my dream. That was the moment I made this film. When you produce films, you make sure that all the money is spent on screen. Today I feel too much money is spent that does not end up on film.”
Dimitri added that the idea to make You Go to My head is to show that a good film can be made with a small cast and crew.
“The tragedy is that even financers are not interested if you approach them with this idea.”
The discussion went on to discuss a counterpoint to Hollywood. Film producer Marc Baschet said, “I think Bollywood is the real counter point to Hollywood.” Baschet, who has produced films such as No Man’s Land, Foxtrot, Heaven and Lunchbox , said “India is one of the best countries to make films in. In fact, I am encouraging people to come here to shoot and collaborate with the vast talent this land offers.”
He spoke about how films such as Lunchbox topped the charts in America and ran houseful for six weeks. It was a great response to Indian films there. Baschet said “I love to shoot in Kolkata. It is one of my favourite places to make films in.” Marc suggested that Dimitri too come to India to make films as “this land offers you lovely people and talents”.
Ratnottama concluded the discussion with, “The change has come. We are Indians in dress, but our thoughts are international. We are rooted in the soil, but we have to aspire to be with the clouds. The sky is the limit.”
