Indian cinema has had an exciting run at the 70th Berlin Film Festival, which ran from February 20 to March 1. An unprecedented 21 South Asian films and talent were selected in various sections of the Berlinale. These include four Indian films — Pushpendra Singh’s Laila aur Satt Geet, Prateek Vats’ Eeb Allay Ooo!, Akshay Indikar’s Sthalpuran and Ekta Mittal’s short Gumnaam Din. Rima Das, director of Village Rockstars and Bulbul Can Sing, was also on the Berlinale’s Generation 14plus International Jury.
This is the 22nd year I’m working with the Berlin Film Festival, and I have always been struck by how much incredible world-class talent there is in South Asian nations.
This year, the Berlinale Talents (BT), a mentoring programme for young and upcoming filmmakers in multiple film disciplines, chose an exceptional 16 Berlinale Talents from South Asia, including seven from India. It was a historic opportunity for South Asian filmmakers to explore collaboration and collectives, which was the theme of BT this year. The Indian Talents were Ivan Ayr (Soni; director, screenwriter), Geetika Vidya (Soni; actor), Dominic Sangma (Ma’Ama; director, screenwriter), Acharya Venu (Ma’Ama; cinematographer, director), Varun Sasindran (Omarska; director), Mukul Haloi (Tales From Our Childhood; director, screenwriter), and Prantik Basu (Rang Mahal; director, ).
Altogether, 255 Berlinale Talents participated in the six-day programme of about 100 events with internationally renowned film experts, mentors, and producers. This year’s highlight was distinguished German director Wim Wenders presenting Pakistani filmmaker Anam Abbas with the Talents Enablement Programme Award for her work as founding member of the Documentary Association of Pakistan collective. This volunteer-driven group has been promoting screenings of Pakistani documentaries to local audiences since 2017.
“I am very honoured. This award will help us make the film movement sustainable, expand to a regional South Asian cooperation network, and influence policy in our country,” said producer-director Abbas. “I want to help Pakistani cinema find a new voice that is its own. I learnt that a wealth of opportunity lay in collaboration between countries. It is so important and heartening to connect to our neighbours in the region, especially those outside India. Our industries are very similar and lack state support, yet, people are making excellent international films. Once we collaborate regionally, these walls will fall!”
The South Asian talents beyond India included solid woman power. There were also Nida Mehboob, director, cinematographer, also from Pakistan; Bavaneedha Loganathan, director, screenwriter from Sri Lanka; Asmita Shrish, director, screenwriter Nepal/UK; and Sadia Khalid, film critic/journalist from Bangladesh. Other South Asian Talents included Rajesh Prasad Khatri (director, Nepal) and Kiran Pokharel (director, producer, Nepal).
BT’s many sections include Script Station, Doc Station, Editing Studio, Talent Project Market, and Summit; with both workshops and talks with international mentors. Despite Soni opening at the Venice Film Festival and now showing on Netflix, Ivan Ayr is at BT’s Script Station with his new script, Landlocked. “I had in-depth discussions with script consultants about my characters and their journey. I learned that one should get feedback on a script as early as possible, before getting married to a story structure,” Ayr said. “It was also the first time I met filmmakers from neighbouring nations. The fellowship for Anam Abbas is a great step forward, as artists are the only lifeline in a culturally-oppressed society. Online distribution can help, but India should first open up to world cinema beyond Bollywood or Hollywood,” he added.
Rajesh Prasad Khatri, a filmmaker from Nepal, who remains a primary schoolteacher in a remote mountain village in Nepal, is an absolute revelation. His debut short, Jaalgedi, won a Special Prize in the Berlin Film Festival, 2018. Even though his next project, Shyam Swoyet Tasvir, is still at the script and development stage — it was part of BT’s Script Station — he already has three top international producers attached to it, Catherine Dussart (France), Chong Shuk Fong (Hong Kong) and Min Bahadur Bham (Nepal). “I became a filmmaker by clearing a dustbin,” he said. “I was an assistant on a friend’s film, and after the shoot, when I cleared the dustbin, I found the script, film notes, and everything I needed to become a filmmaker. I make excuses to get leave from school when I want to shoot my film, but I don’t want to give up the job because when I make small children laugh, that joy is what keeps my filmmaking going as well.”
Also filming in challenging circumstances is Dominic Sangma, from tiny Shillong in Meghalaya, and whose Indo-Chinese collaboration Ma’Ama was at the Mumbai Film Festival and won Best Cinematography for fellow BT participant Acharya Venu at the Shanghai International Film Festival. Sangma was at BT with his second project Rapture, which was already at Cannes Film Festival. “BT has been valuable. I had great meetings with producers and now feel confident of starting my second film soon.”
Sole BT South Asian actress Geetika Vidya (Soni), said that on being selected for the BT Acting Studio, she called home and “had to help them understand what BT is, for them to be able to participate in my happiness.” She was in BT to gain “technical expertise to reach the audience’s head and heart, and to learn to stay strong and resolute in times of uncertainty.”
Rajee Samarasinghe, a Sri Lankan filmmaker based in Los Angeles, has had two distinctions back to back: his 15m short Gimhanaye Netra, was selected for the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January, and he was selected at the BT (Doc Station for Your Touch Makes Others Invisible) in February. “The best thing about BT was the rare opportunity to meet people from a variety of creative disciplines and countries. I think I will end up working with a lot of the folks I met here. Also, it was nice to meet so many South Asian filmmakers. Anam Abbas is such an amazing creative force and her win was well-deserved.”
Likewise, writer-director Bavaneedha Loganathan, also from Sri Lanka, added, “This was the first time I met other south Asian filmmakers. I learnt about the importance of sustainability in filmmaking, funding platforms, and working collectively. I made good friends with South Asians, especially the women participants, and hope to work with them in the future. I also met Wim Wenders and Victor Kossakovsky (director of Gunda), and their masterclasses were priceless.”
The lone BT film critic from South Asia, Sadia Khalid Reeti from Bangladesh, was earlier on the FIPRESCI Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. A screenwriting graduate from UCLA, she is currently an editor with the Dhaka Tribune. “I was the first Bangladeshi in BT’s Talent Press section for film critics,” said Khalid. “Hearing top critics talk about their philosophy of film criticism, and being mentored by some of them, will enrich my work. We got to meet trailblazers from our region. When Anam Abbas won the award, it made me proud, and gave me hope that our local initiatives may also receive recognition someday. I believe regional co-production between BT alumni will offer exciting films that will truly uphold our heritage, culture, and values on the global stage.”
International producers are competing to produce New York-based Nepali filmmaker Deepak Rauniyar’s next. His Highway was in the Berlin Film Festival, and his Seto Surya was at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. He was in the Berlinale Talent Project Market where meetings are set up with producers for Anam Abbas’s Mariam (Pakistan) and his film The Sky is Mine. “My film generated good interest, and we received requests from almost double the number of companies that we could officially meet in two days!” he said. “I wish there were more forums like this in South Asia.”The writer is India And South Asia Delegate to the Berlin Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist.