Showing posts with label Indie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indie. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Idiots' Creations

Although we are not really sure whether it helps to post on this blog, we keep on posting and sharing things here whenever "what's next? how to reach more people" or a similar question comes to our mind.

Last night was a great night. The greatest thing about the night is that nothing really happened, except that we completed chopping the first look of our film and uploaded it on youtube. After 15 hours or so, now we got 200 hits, which is nothing. So, nothing really happened and that's the greatest part of it. You know, when nothing happens, absolutely nothing, "what's next? how to reach more people", this kind of a question comes to our mind and we open up this blog to post something here. We know it's not really going to help us though.

And when nothing happens, we get obsessed and keep on working more and more. That's the best part of it and that's why last night was a great night. If everything went alright AASHMANI JAWAHARAT (2013) would have released on the 1st day of this month. But nothing like that happened. So, you can guess that everything is not alright at all. We still need 99,000 rupees, and, needless to say, nothing is happening, no, really! So, we have made up our minds to release it on the 1st day of July. But, 99,000 rupees, it's a big amount for beggar-filmmakers (forget bakchodis like crowdfunding and all) like us! So, if nothing happens in the meantime, nothing is really going to happen!

Nine Nine, Zero Zero Zero = Ninety Nine Thousand = 99,000
So, please don't ask us when is it going to release. Remember, you get back the love you give and there are no exceptions in case of rules made by God! We are probably going to make it a contributors' only release in July! So, if you are not a contributor, you'll be left with nothing. Nothing is great, but nothing is still nothing!

You can, if you wish, MakeItHappen
or
You can just do Nothing



Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mama Tumi Buro Hole Keno - Part 2

Jean-Luc Godard is working in 3D. Great news indeed. In 2010, he said that he likes invention of new technologies because there are no set of rules for any new medium. But did he really ever cared about the "rules"? Well, maybe he did and always tried to break them consciously. It's not actually the time for us to say "Goodbye to Language" as we still need to communicate in order to raise funds. Godard fought for his own cause. Rocha fought for his own cause. Mekas fought for his own cause. And we, are just trying to do the same.  If our cause matches with yours, take the step.

A Bengali Feature Length Film made on Financial Contributions from the People, when was it done for the last time?

Taking the step means doing whatever you can do. It doesn't mean just hitting the like button on Facebook. Of course you are welcome to encourage us by doing that, but that's not involvement really. We belong to the forum, Little Fish Eat Big Fish and we believe in those sentences written on our blog header. Mind me repeating that? "We don't believe film-making is a costly affair. For us, Film is not an Industry, rather an activism. It is not all about gloss." You can become a volunteer and be a part of this project. You can help the campaign to reach more people. You can contribute financially. Just let us know if you are willing to do anything at all. Someone said yesterday that she did not contribute because we keep on repeating the same thing. We always talk about the project and funds and almost never talk about the film. Dear friend, if talking was enough we would not have bothered to make a film. But just to clear it up, the film is a self reflexive one. The film is about how it is being made. It's a docu-fiction on the Indian independent film scenario. There are fake Indies in India like Indies promoted by Bollywood, Indies who never tried to do anything other than what industry does with their products. Novices who don't even know who Cassavetes was calls themselves Indies now-a-days. Who cares about what creative independence is? Who cares about whether an independent film be made of a Bollywoodish film language or not? Well, some people did. They were a gang of film activists. The clash between their stand-point and the society pushed them into a big crisis. There was only one way to get out of the situation. Someone needed to come up with a feature length film. Resources were tight and one of these young makers decided to break the wall. He made a film and how he made it is where the film reflects its own story.

Can we hope now you could get a clear idea of it? There are more fragments you'll never come to know until we come up with the film on 1st May, 2013.

So
Share. Donate. Make it Happen.

In 2007, at the age of 85, Jonas Mekas made 365 short films in 365 days. Can't you do this much for a film?
Do you love films?

Friday, April 20, 2012

The 0ne Rupee Novella - Part II

[Published on MAM Previously]


A man opens the door with a smiling face; must be a servant who already knew that another young filmmaker is coming in search of luck. No one would have guessed that such a rich man can live here in this soon-to-be-abandoned kind of building. How did he become so rich, the filmmaker tries to think while moving towards the drawing room. Suddenly, the thoughts gets obstructed as he sees a young man playing cricket. Not exactly playing, rather practicing, but where's the ball again! What is this man trying to do? He's got a bat, he is posing as if he is playing different shots and, nevertheless he is also narrating the whole action in English. A shadow practice with commentary, nice! The filmmaker stood motionless, watching, until the servant calls him inside. Unexpected association of images and sounds! The fat film producer enters the room

-- 'Welcome, my dear friend, what'll you have, cold drink or beer?

-- 'Beer of course!'

As if tea or coffee is meant for a mediocre only! He knows very well where this conversation is going to end. Sometimes he thinks he must learn to lie. Does it really matter if you cheat some fatsos to make your dream a reality? You just need to say that you know some buyers and they live in some UK or USA and the only thing needed is three or four copies with Spanish, French, Itallian and Russian subtitles other than English. You need to convince them that you know every bit of the international market but, fuck man, you are a maker and not a merchant. You can't humiliate yourself at least! So, again he says the same things like even Uttam Kumar had to cope with flops. Absolutely no one can be certain whether a film is going to work in terms of revenue or not. And the producer would say

-- "See, it doesn't matter to me if your film is a flop. It's my money and I just want to know how I can get it back, I mean at least what I invested. Can you show me a structure?"

-- "That depends on a lot of things."

-- "Then my financial support too depends on a lot of things."

Then they will talk about the market trends and how much investment can assure some return etc. The producer will talk about his previous experiences with other directors whom he thinks to be eminent names now-a-days in the industry. How they came to him when no one had heard their names and how he changed their lives etc. All the same, all the same! Then after a couple of bottles, the filmmaker would get depressed and open up again

-- "The taste has changed a lot, you see. No one likes a good film now-a-days. If you use some slow moves, prolonged zoom-ins and zoom-outs, they will call you outdated. No one wants a Hrishikesh Mukherjee in the 21st century. The longest shot should last less than 6 seconds, that's what they like. Even these kinds of conversation sequences, like we are having a discussion now, sitting face-to-face on two sides of a table, shot-reverse shot-over the shoulder-POV; they will call it cliched. I know, I've used these devices previously. I've heard that film insurance is an option in Mumbai provided that the project profile looks fine. The the kind of casting required to avail that...well, I don't think you are that much strong financially.

-- "Who told you to think about my financial background?"

-- "No, on a second thought, the kind of stars that we have here won't be fit for my film. Most of them are incapable I think. Moreover, viewers can empathize more with a new man, a new face. This is a psychological factor that always works. In case of stars, the process of self-identification gets hindered.

-- "Whatever! If you comne up with something interesting let me know. Just give me a call and we'll see"

Another door is closed.
New face?
What's new again?
It's just a common face
But a face that's uncommon for the screen
For the spectator
In a sea of thousand faces how'd you know who finds empathy in what shape or which complexion
Everyday
I stand in front of a wall
All covered up with posters
Everyday
I shuffle between a thousand images
All I look for is a face
Similar to mine
Yet dissimilar

...And the rain starts to fall