New Delhi: With two critically-lauded and internationally celebrated films, life has changed but not much for National Film Award winning-director Rima Das who says she will never compromise with her “creative vision” to woo producers.
A self-taught director, Das was a one-woman army when she shot the coming-of-age “Village Rockstars” in her village in Assam’s Chhaygaon.
“When I did ‘Village Rockstars’, I had nothing. Same thing happened with ‘Bulbul Can Sing’. I don’t feel getting a producer is a struggle because I come from nothing. Now other producers are approaching me. But I have my own equipment, honestly I don’t feel dependent on someone else,” the filmmaker told PTI in a telephonic interview.
Das is now ready to fly to Berlinale, just like her last directorial “Bulbul Can Sing”. The film had its European premiere at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival last year.
But she will be in Berlin in a different avatar – as one of the three jury members of the 14plus International Jury. The other two are, Iranian filmmaker Abbas Amini and South African director Jenna Bass.
14Plus is a sub category of the Generation section at the festival and focused on creating stories for those aged 14 and above.
“When ‘Bulbul’ won in Melbourne, they gave me a (professional) Blackmagic camera. Earlier, I had a small camera to shoot with, I now have a bigger one,” she added.
But Das will never trade autonomy of her stories for better funds, she asserted.
“If producers who approach me allow me to work my way, it’s fine. Otherwise it’s pointless. I can always go back to producing my own films. Whether I have an audience of a thousand or a lakh.
