IN FOCUS: Atin Ela and Char Adhyay

Imagine you are walking by the Academy of Fine Arts in Calcutta when you see a crowd gathered there. It transpires that they are waiting to watch a film. Entry is free, and the film being screened is A Separation, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s award-winning work. Actually, you don’t really have to imagine it: a group of directors has just made this possible.

The grouses about good cinema are oft repeated. Multiplexes don’t run films that are different. Viewers are not interested, and even if they are, they never get to see them. And producers are not willing to put their money to back these ventures.

Katha

Tired of such complaints, a group of directors — among them Shankho Ghosh and Sumana Mukherjee — has formed the All India Film Directors Organisation (AIFDO). The idea, they say, is to work on the cinema viewing habits of the public and create a space for exchanging ideas. The organisation plans to support upcoming directors in many ways, including finance.

The AIFDO founders are independent directors who understand how difficult it is to make films that do not follow the set pattern. Ghosh, director of Katha and the upcoming Atin Ela and Char Adhyay, says, “It is not that there is no audience; it’s just that there are hardly any theatres that screen these movies.”

AIFDO has begun screening films on the streets. “We just need to hire a large vehicle for this,” says Ghosh. They plan four shows every month at major public places. So far, the group has screened Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov’s Mother and Son, Inner Eye by Satyajit Ray and others.

In collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts, AIFDO is planning to screen a film once in two months and hold cinema-related discussions and seminars every fortnight. “Many short films and documentaries do not reach the common people because of lack of distribution channels. We will create the space for them and fruitful discussions have been held with AIFDO for screening movies in collaboration with the Academy,”says Bulbul Roy, the Academy’s honorary joint secretary.

AIFDO also hopes to encourage indie or independent filmmakers. Sumana Mukherjee, who is directing a Hindi film Kala Khatta and is the creative producer for Atin Ela and Char Adhyay, knows that funding is a major issue for independent filmmakers. “But there are ways out. Non-government organisations sometimes finance a film. We even get funds from friends and family as well as private financers. Crowd financing is yet another option,” she says.

Of course, indie filmmaking is not just about directing a film without a producer, points out producer-director Quashik Mukherjee who is known for such films as Gandu and Tasher Desh.

“It is more about independent content development that has some political, cultural or social relevance. This has happened in India earlier too. Shyam Benegal, Mani Kaul and many others made movies of their choice. The difference between now and then is that earlier they used to get the support of the government,” he says.

Suman Mukhopadhyay, director of Herbert and Kangal Malsat, believes that the government’s role has to increase considerably for such cinema to flourish. At present he is working on a film based on Rabindranath Tagore’s Shesher Kobita which has been commissioned by the ministry of culture.

In some ways, of course, indie directors also have it easy. The boom in technology has allowed them to flout the norms of filmmaking. Mukhopadhyay points out that people now shoot on digital cameras and even on iPhones. “They welcome new faces instead of hunting for stars. They develop content that stands apart from that of mainline cinema and opt for different distribution methods,” he says. Directors upload films on the Internet, screen them at international platforms, sell rights to satellite TV and look at many other ways of reaching out.

Forums such as Pocket Films, that facilitate and distribute short films online, are doing their bit too. “We’ve tied up with YouTube and opened a site through which we promote films by independent directors,” says Sameer Modi, director, Pocket Films. “We have about 900-plus filmmakers with us and there are 50 million views for the site.” The site helps directors generate revenue through ads.

Gandu

To draw more eyeballs, Modi is organising a competition called Shot Take Season 3 where directors can showcase their films. “Three winning movies will get ‘walk in’ entry to the German Star of India award at an Indian film festival in Germany.”

Indie director Anand Gandhi believes that for the last few years, the diversity in Indian films is being noticed. “The audience is demanding a certain global aesthetic quality. So it is important that theatres too screen award winning films,” says Gandhi, who hopes his film Ship of Theseus will be released in the theatres.

Magic Lantern Movies LLP is another platform for indie films. “We distribute short fictions, documentaries, experimental and animation movies. We take the movies from the directors on a contractual basis, make DVDs and sell them all around the world,” says founder Gargi Sen.

Director Onir, along with actor-producer Sanjay Suri, has begun a group called Save Indie Cinema. Some 62 directors have written to the ministry of information and broadcasting asking for the involvement of state governments in finding theatres or libraries for screening national award winning films. “These are films with a social relevance,” Onir stresses.

To focus on such films, AIFDO is also holding talks with Jadavpur University, Maulana Azad College, Netaji Nagar College and University of Burdwan for space within the campuses to screen films. Every show will be followed by a critical discussion.

Efforts are also on to take the movement outside Bengal. “We will hold similar sessions in Delhi and Mumbai,” says Sumana Mukherjee.

It also plans to organise an international indie film festival in Calcutta in July. Apart from many award winning films, AIFDO will encourage new directors to make short films of 15 minutes’ duration for screening. AIFDO will provide them with camera and editing facilities.

Meanwhile, Onir’s group has won a slot on a national television channel for screening indie films. He has also started film clubs in Shillong, Imphal, Srinagar and Shimla for screening both Indian and world cinema.

It’s going to rain cinema — and indie directors hope that filmgoers will revel in it.