Two filmmakers and a producer known for their experimental films were the guests at the Meet-the-Director forum on the penultimate day of the 26th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) here on Thursday.
Atal Krishnan, director of Woman with a Movie Camera, kicked off the session by speaking about the methods he followed in making his film that was made for an unbelievably low budget of ₹5,000.
He said that this was achieved partly because a group of friends worked for free as the crew. Mr. Krishnan said the budget sufficed for the film because he had been less bothered about the presentation than ensuring that the audience could grasp the message he wanted to convey.
Aravind Pratap, director of the Bhojpuri film Life is Suffering and Death is Salvation said that paying the actors had been his only concern in the project. Aravind, who had himself handled the camera borrowed from his friend besides post-production work including editing and sound mixing, said that passion was the only thing an aspiring filmmaker required.
Goutham Challan, producer of The Wanderlust of Apu, also participated in the event. The film, directed by Subhrajit Mitra, has been recreated from the last part of the novel Aparajito and starts from where Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy ends. He revealed that the biggest challenge was to equal the brilliance of Satyajit Ray and at the same time make a film that appealed to both the older generation as well as the present-day audience.
