Questions flowed thick and fast during the virtual meet between a New York-based filmmaker with roots in the Northeast and the students of Dr Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film & Television Institute near Guwahati.
The discussion followed the screening of writer-director Vidhu Kota’s 20-minute film Fool’s Gold, which revolves around an Indian sculptor struggling to establish himself in New York.
The distance between New York and Guwahati shrunk slowly as the conversation on filmmaking proceeded. The interaction was both fruitful and informative, a participant said.
The screening and discussion was a part of the institute’s exposure programme for its students involving industry professionals. The institute went for Vidhu because they wanted to tap into the experiences and challenges of somebody who has just embarked on his cinematic journey in a “highly professional and technically-sound set up” and was familiar with Assam and the Northeast.
Born in Jorhat, 22-year-old Vidhu’s career choice took him to Pratt Institute in New York, one of the best art schools in the world, from where he graduated in filmmaking. Fool’s Gold was Vidhu’s thesis film for Pratt.
Vidhu Kota during the virtual interaction
The film has won the Best Student Film at the Golden Gate International Film Festival, a bronze award for Best Indie Short at the Independent Short Awards and the Audience Choice Honourable Mention at the Yonkers Film Festival.
Vidhu told The Telegraph that he was overwhelmed with “pride and excitement” at the end of the conversation he had with the students because they were asking the same questions he hears at film festivals in New York.
“It reminded me that talent and curiosity about storytelling are universal. I felt this deep sense of responsibility too, realising that these conversations could genuinely impact their trajectories as filmmakers. There was also this beautiful full-circle moment, being able to give back to the region where my roots are, even from Brooklyn,” he said.
Vidhu mooted the need for more such conversations involving people from abroad to fire the imagination of the students “not because foreign perspectives are better, but because exposure to different approaches and markets expands possibilities”.
“I’d love to create a regular mentorship programme, covering everything from festival strategies to working with international crews. I want to share the practical stuff they don’t teach in school like how to budget micro-films, how to navigate cultural differences on set, how to maintain authenticity while reaching broader audiences,” he said.
Vidhu’s story is no less fascinating. Every semester at Pratt, he secured the “President’s List Distinction” and his documentary and short films such as Chalte Raho and How to skip a Rock have earned critical acclaim.
When Vidhu was just 12, he wrote his first sci-fi novel Cantend: And so It Begins. It was later published by Partridge India in 2016.
Vidhu wrote the script for Fool’s Gold “for about two years, spent half a year on post-production and a year in the festival circuit... This film genuinely means the world to me. It showed me I could do what 12-year-old me wanted to do, and do it well”.
The young filmmaker was bullish about the future of the Assamese film industry. “The stories are there, we just need the bridges to share them with the world,” Vidhu said.