Through a glass darkly

Better state support and supportive social environment can help independent filmmakers thrive

FILM FESTIVALS were my window to world cinema. In our friends circles, the festivals triggered debates about good and bad cinema. When I reflect on those debates, I become more concerned with another aspect of cinema: How can quality films be made and how can they be taken to cinema lovers.

My own experience as an independent filmmaker is instructive. I was just a 30year-old aspiring filmmaker when I got the opportunity to make a film. I made my film without any stars and I refused to spice it up with popular ingredients. My debut feature, Asthamayam Vare (Unto The Dusk), was shot in some 124 locations in Kerala with a budget of around Rs 60 lakh, on the most advanced digital cameras, which cost between Rs 3 lakh to 5 lakh, besides small handheld cameras, cellphone cameras. The experience taught me that there were takers for good films, that you can reach out to discerning audiences without having godfathers or the support of known distribution channels.

M.P. Sheeja, an artist and writer, and L. Geetha, a government employee, were my producers. My savings, too, helped. We had no idea how the money could be recovered. But in the two years since completing the film, we have recovered our investment. Four awards from Kerala and Karnataka governmentsbroughtusrs18lakh.wesold some 3,000 DVDS of the movie and managed to screen it for almost four weeks in various cities and towns in Kerala.

I don’t claim that it is so easy to survive in Kerala, or anywhere in India, as an independent filmmaker, especially if there are no social or government support. Technology has helped to drastically bring down the cost of filming. In the past, we used to spend several lakhs for a day’s shooting. From being dependent on cameras such as Arriflex 435, a film camera that is priced over Rs 1 crore, and film, which cost over Rs 12,000 for a length of four minutes shoot, we have reached a stage where we can shoot movies with low-cost, high-end digital cameras or even small and cheap handheld cameras. The fall in the cost of production has made movie making possible for anyone.

But that’s not enough. We need to have better systems to promote and sustain the independent film movement, which is focussed on quality and is unwilling to compromise artistic integrity for profits.

At least until mid-1990s, Kerala and Bengal produced some of the best independent movies in India. These states represented the good cinema made in the Indian subcontinent. No more. What has changed in the last two decades? What has helped Marathi and other languages to produce some of the best movies in recent years, whereas Malayalam experienced a drought of good cinema? It is not that Kerala ceased to have good filmmakers, but the opportunities to make quality films had shrunk. This is despite the setting up of Kerala Chalachithra Academy in 1998, to support the growth of good cinema. Perhaps, the priorities and preferences of the academy have to change and reflect the needs of the new crop of independent filmmakers. It is valid to ask how many good movies without a mainstream tag were nominated to international festivals from Kerala in the last few years? What efforts were taken to organise film markets for independent filmmakers to sell their projects to international audiences and recover the money they have spent? The answers are not reassuring to independent filmmakers.

There are indeed some relaxations such as exemption for movies made with a budget of less than Rs 50 lakhs from commercial registrations. The state budget this time has made fund allocations to promote film societies. Action has been promised to facilitate the screening of independent movies in government theatres.

Barring a few exception, a majority of the independent filmmakers could do with better state support. A social environment that makes production of good films needs to be nurtured. There is tremendous enthusiasm in the state about the annual International Film Festival Kerala (IFFK), but we also need to reflect on the quality of the films.

Some of us have been lucky. For instance, I got the opportunity to screen my movie in various government-run theatres. Many private theatre owners came forward to screen Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s 2016-movie Ozhivudivasathe Kali (An Off-day Game). These are positive changes in the film industry, where independent movies by and large have to live with the stigma of being isolated as “award cinema”.

Babu, 31, is the director of the Malayalam film, ‘Asthamayam Vare’ (Unto the Dusk)