The Cannes Festival Blog

Cinema Lesson with Deepa Mehta

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 18:38:00 -0400

Indian Director Deepa Mehta presented her latest movie "Water" at the Taormina Film Festival. The making of the movie created a significant religious controversy in India. In a "cinema lesson", Mehta talks about her career, the movie trilogy "Fire", "Earth" and "Water", filmmaking, Bollywood and herself. On her Career Q: How did you get into the movies? Deepa Mehta: My father was a film distributor. I sometimes saw the same movie forty times. But when I grew up, I decided I wanted to do something else � I wanted to become an academic, so did a thesis in Hindu philosophy. I did not want to depend on Friday night film releases and Monday box office results like my father. Then I met someone who did documentaries, and I fell in love with film all over again � that was two months before I finished my thesis. Q: We don�t have that many female Directors. What does it mean to be female director? Why are there so few? Deepa Mehta: There aren�t as many women directors as there should be, you are right. Like many places, business or politics, the place of the women is generally at home, and the men to be outside. To get into the old boys network is very difficult, especially in film, which was always considered a male thing. Q: What influenced your work most? What filmmakers? Deepa Mehta: Bergman is powerful. A deceptively simple way of telling a very powerful story. Something that is done with bare bones should not be confused with simplicity. Q: You talked about your next film. Are you going to utilize big actors in that film? Will it be a block buster, or a normal film in normal circuits? Can you tell us more about the film? Deepa Mehta: It�s an independent film � and again, for me, casting comes from the characters. In �Water�, the actor who plays Naryan is a big Bollywood star. I haven�t thought of any big Hollywood stars, but if I think if one of them is right, I will be approach � it would be crazy not to, that would be reverse discrimination. On her Movie Trilogy Q: A Greek philosopher that lived in Sicily very close to where we are today thought about fire, water, earth and air � he first philosopher who said that that�s what the world is made of. Why are you so interested in these elements? Deepa Mehta: The reason that I named these films is because these are the elements that nurture us, but yet, they have a capacity to destroy us. All films in the trilogy deal with resurrection and death. Q: Violence is a recurring theme in your films. Deepa Mehta: It�s obvious that I�m a female director. The trilogy has a lot do with women. Yet, the theme of �Fire� is the clash between traditions, and the desire of an independent voice. In �Water�, it�s the clash between blind faith or religion, and our conscience. All my film deals with the desire for an independent thinking, and exploring the consequences of that. Q: What are your plans for the future? Will there be an �Air� movie? Deepa Mehta: No � there is something so stupid about a film called �Air�. I�ve just finished writing a script for a film called �Exclusion�. It is based on a historical event that happened in 1914 in Canada. It is about racism, and how the basis of racism is economics. Q: In your movies there is always a strong relation between different generations of women. Why are women in India so central? Deepa Mehta: In India, we live in extended families, where there is a strong relationship between the young and the old. Q: Do you have personal memories about Ghandi? Deepa Mehta: My mother was quite young when Ghandi came into power � she was 17, and she remembers being extremely moved. The stories she told me as a young girl had a big impact on me. Ghandi was a man who was never hesitant to talk about his weaknesses, he was wholly human. Q: Regarding �Earth�: Western film makers have not focused on the partition of India and Pakistan. Is there a feeling of guilt in the Western world, given that it was the British government that sponsored this parturition? Deepa Mehta: I didn�t make this movie to make the West aware of this � I�m a story teller. I did hope that once that "Earth" was made that people would become more aware of it, which is what they did. For me, all kinds of sectarian war is terrible. All wars are fought on women�s bodies � that�s why I made �Earth�. Q: When �Fire� was screened in India, it came out, and then was given again to the Indian censure board. It came back uncut, which seems a new hint that India is changing. All changes that we see here in the West are about technology in India. But there is more, such as Hindu traditionalism. Can you imagine doing a movie about the society changes in India caused by the technology boom? Deepa Mehta: I think it�s been done all the time � Bollywood does it all the time. The hero is always an IT multinational, flying in private jets, living in big houses. I wouldn�t mind doing it if a story comes along that is interesting that is about the growth of India economically. But I don�t have a story yet. To be honest: I�m not very interested � the very fact that India is a rising power economically in the world makes it all the more important that it looks at aspects of it that are not that good. Q: When a woman becomes a widow in Sicily, they call her �la captive� � the prisoner. Isn�t it interesting that cultures have very similar concepts about widows? Deepa Mehta: Every culture has something like this. �Magdalene Sisters� talks about oppression of women in Ireland. In Australia, the way they treat Aborigines is exactly the same. In Canada, the way we treat our natives or our senior citizens � in every country, you have this problem � you marginalize people that are weaker, that is a human trait. People ask me is there anything we can do for widows in India? I say, people in India take care of that � you take care of what is in your own backyard. Q: How is it possible that a little child is a widow? Deepa Mehta: Child marriages are illegal in India these days. That�s why film is set in 1938 � there were child marriages prevalent then. Child marriages go back to 11 century, to Mongolian invasion � they would not rape or pillage women or youngsters that were married. So parents got their young children married, and it became part of the culture. Q: Can you comment on how you portrait male characters in the trilogy? I felt quite moved, and really liked the movies. But I think the men don�t come out very well in the three movies. Deepa Mehta: I don�t think so. In earth, Hassan is wonderful � he�s the guy that talks about peace. In water, the main character is Ghandi, and Narrahn, he is willing to give everything away. In �Fire�, they don�t come off very well, that�s true. Q: Yesterday, you described the problems you had with riots before doing the movie. Do you think some of them will see the film? Deepa Mehta: Movie will be released in India at the end of July, so I hope some of them will see the film, yes. On Film Making Q: The definition of your movies sometimes reminds us of black and white movies. Your movies can be edited on books frame by frame. Deepa Mehta: It all starts with the script. I wanted to make a film that was cinematic, film-oriented when doing �Water�. That meant ruthlessly cutting down the dialogue of the script. So I had to replace words with images. In �Water�, the dialogue was cut to a bare minimum. A look from an actor; Chuyia scratching herself � that had to replace dialogue. Q: How do you handle scriptwriting? Deepa Mehta: When I started to make �Fire�, I knew what the story was � it fit on two pages. But then, it became time to write the screenplay. I never thought I would write it � I had never written a screenplay. So I started looking for writers, but the ones that I wanted were too expensive. So I said: What the hell, this is not rocket science. So I decided to do it. My screen plays are very image oriented, I write like a director. Q: Music plays an important part in your movies. Where does this fascination with music come from? It seems something that you feel very strong about. Deepa Mehta: My love for music has a lot to do with the fact that I come from the tradition of Indian cinema, where music plays a big role. Indian cinema has a long tradition. Since the first film with sound came out in India, it was with music. It has a lot to do with our great epics � they are all with music. Music becomes an aspect, an expression of what is the interior landscape of the character. For me, it always comes from within the characters. Q: What was your first reaction when you did your first movie? Was this a lot of pressure? Deepa Mehta: My daughter laughs about it � the night before shooting, I always throw up. I�m very nervous. Q: How do you cast your movies? Deepa Mehta: Casting comes from the characters, and from what the chemistry will be with the other actors. Q: How do you choose your stories? Is there an enlightenment? Deepa Mehta: Stories come from reading a sentence in a book or reading the newspaper one day or hearing a conversation in a bus or a seeing a gesture. It�s all about little things becoming stories. Q: Your stories are always very powerful � they surprise the audience. I never thought that something like this can still happen. What reaction are you looking for by an audience? Deepa Mehta: What motivates my stories is curiosity � for example, I never heard about the Ashram for widows until I was about twenty. The way widows live in India even today was very surprising to me. When I sit down and write it is for myself. I don�t sit down with a message, thinking �I want people to know about this�. My audience are people who are intelligent and compassionate, who have no shame wanting to know more � who go to the Internet and learn more about it. Q: What do you think about religion? What is happening in the world is sold to us a war of religion, although it might be a war about oil. We saw what happened with �Da Vinci Code� � it found the church against it. That was a very good marketing move - it�s the biggest box office hit in Italy after �Titanic�. What do you think about religion in movie making? Deepa Mehta: If I think the subject is important, I make the film. I don�t think about taboos. It has to be a story that intrigues me as a film maker. I think we are living in a world filled with fear that has a lot to do with misinterpretation of religion for personal benefit. Q: What do you think of corporate Hollywood these days? Deepa Mehta: Fox Searchlight picked up �Water� in the US � that shows a different way of thinking. I feel there is hope. As a film maker, you make films for people � not for DVD. You want to reach the largest possible audience. Q: What do you think of the tendency to use money earned with big movies to finance �smaller� movies? Deepa Mehta: As a filmmaker, I think it�s great that all these big studios have what they call �the classics�. But Fox Searchlight picks up only fourteen films a year. So the competition is very tough. On Bollywood . Q: You grew up with Bollywood movies, which now have become a huge success worldwide. What happened? Deepa Mehta: Bollywood is a genre that I grew up with, so I�m very familiar with it. Right now, it has a lot to do with the political landscape of the world. We want something that is so easy, about song and dance � it is pure entertainment. You go to a Bollywood film, and you don�t have to think. Q: We have seen many Bollywood movies that are not from Bollywood � for example Moulin Rouge � do you agree? Deepa Mehta: I don�t think Moulin Rouge was Bollywood at all � maybe a little in the sing and dance numbers, but it is completely Western otherwise. Baz Luhrmann has a very Australian sensitivity. Q: Your movies are more universal than films by other Indian Directors. Do you feel part of a movement? How do you position yourself with respect to Gurinder Chadha (�Bend it like Beckham�) or Mira Nair (�Monsoon Wedding�)? Deepa Mehta: I don�t see myself as part of a movement. All our films are very different. �Bend it like Beckham� is fun, but very different from �Monsoon Wedding�, and very different from �Water�. The one thing we have in common is that we are Indian, but there are one billion Indians. Q: Could Bollywood be detrimental for understanding Indian culture? Deepa Mehta: You can always look at a glass half empty or half full. Bollywood in its own strange ways talks about Indian problems, because it completely ignores them. Its about Utopia � whatever you don�t see is what India is all about. On Herself Q: Where do you live? Deepa Mehta: Six months in Dehli and six months in Toronto. The reason I moved to Canada is that I met a Canadian and got married. We have a daughter, and have shared custody. Q: What do you think about Canada? Deepa Mehta: I like Canada � it is a very multicultural country. As opposed to the US, it doesn�t believe in the �melting pot� � I can be an Indian and a Canadian at the same time. Canada gives me the freedom to express my ideas. Q: What are your favorite actors today? Deepa Mehta: I really love Tony Lung, a Hong Kong actor. I think Jonny Depp is amazing. Kate Blanchet. I think Clint Eastwood, too. Q: What drives you forward in your work and in your life? What inspires you? Deepa Mehta: What keeps me going, and keeps me passionate, is my curiosity, my desire as a person to always know more, especially in the socio-political arena.

Back in Taormina

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:47:17 -0400

Back at the ultimate Mediterranean festival, for the fifth time. This year, there is trouble in Taormina. The festival has lost its main sponsor. That means less money to fly in stars for awards and cinema lessons. As a consequence, the festival has been shortened to six days. Arriving in Catania, we are shuttled through the ongoing construction work for what looks like a completely new airport, including walkways and all other amenities of modern airport design. So we will miss the walk across the airfield, which always brought back memories of Mediterranean family vacations in the 1970s. Taormina itself welcomes us with 40 degrees Celsius of dry heat. A quick change into shorts, T-shirt and Havaiana slippers, and off to the first of what are likely to be many Cappucinos at the caf� next to the police station. Then rushing back to the hotel and changing into proper attire for the traditional *censored*tail reception at Hotel Timeo. The crowd is pretty small and intimate, but that has the advantage that the Prosecco does not run out as quickly as in the years before. Lots of familiar faces. Tonight�s evening screening in the Greek theatre is just the right thing for somebody having spent 21 hours on three different flights to arrive in Taormina � �United 93�, the story of one of the planes hijacked on September 11 2001, and the first �big� movie covering the event (Oliver Stone is currently working on a 9/11 film). The movie�s strongest scenes are played by many of the actual people involved, and show what was happening in different air traffic control rooms during the tragedy. The situation starts out as a calmly handled routine operation that is not taken too serious - �we have not had a hijacking in 21 years� as one of the air traffic controller says when first indications of a hijacking come in. Routine quickly turns into horror and panic, however, when the first plane disappears from the radar screen over Manhattan and at the same time, CNN reports that �a small aircraft� has hit the World Trade Center. Watching �United 93�, you have to remind yourself at times that this is not a summer-season disaster movie from the likes of Wolfgang Peterson. Still, in the movie�s final scenes, you cannot help but hope that the passengers of United 93 will manage to overwhelm the hijackers, and an amateur pilot will safely land the plane in � say � Washington, where passengers are greeted by the US president. Unfortunately, that�s where the Hollywood parallel ends.

Dates next Festival

Mon, 29 May 2006 07:29:00 -0400

16-27 May 2007

Winnerz

Mon, 29 May 2006 04:41:08 -0400

PALME D'OR THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY r�alis� par Ken LOACH GRAND PRIX FLANDRES r�alis� par Bruno DUMONT PRIX DU SC�NARIO / BEST SCREENPLAY Pedro ALMOD�VAR pour VOLVER PRIX DE LA MISE EN SC�NE / BEST DIRECTOR Alejandro Gonz�lez I��RRITU pour BABEL PRIX D'INTERPR�TATION MASCULINE / BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR Jamel DEBBOUZE, Samy NAC�RI, Roschdy ZEM, Sami BOUAJILA, Bernard BLANCAN dans INDIG�NES r�alis� par Rachid BOUCHAREB PRIX D'INTERPR�TATION F�MININE / BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS Pen�lope CRUZ, Carmen MAURA, Lola DUE�AS, Blanca PORTILLO, Yohana COBO, Chus LAMPREAVE dans VOLVER r�alis� par Pedro ALMOD�VAR PRIX DU JURY / JURY PRIZE RED ROAD r�alis� par Andrea ARNOLD

Chinese Champion in Cannes?

Sat, 27 May 2006 10:23:00 -0400

Everyone's favorites for winners seem to be Almodovar's "Volver" and Bratt Pitt-starrer "Babel". Having said that, Cannes juries generally opt for suprises. One Cannes old-hand I spoke to believes that Chinese "Summer Palace" stands a real chance: there are two Chinese in the jury (including the president), the film created a political scandal in China (treats tabou Tiananmen Square topic - China even chose to withdraw its press core from the Festival) and political statements often do play a role in Cannes awards. The movie isn't all that good, but that didn't stop awards in the past.

Cannes Stories

Wed, 24 May 2006 06:02:46 -0400

The Cannes Film Festival is one of these rare moments in space and time that have the potential to change lifes.

And these days, blog entries are a way to get a glimpse of this. They show what people that come here without being film stars (yet) are aspiring to, and how they spend their time at the Festival.

Check the following entries with typical Cannes stories:

an intern researching whether Richard Linklater (Director of "Fast Food Nation") is a vegetarian
looking somebody with a "project"looking for a producer while at the same time planning parties, movie screenings and dealing with being broke

Penelope Cruz and Pedro Almodovar on Cannes Red Carpet

Fri, 19 May 2006 13:54:15 -0400

Pix from the red-carpet screening of "Volver", which at this point is favored by nearly everyone to win the "Palm" Prize this year.

Another fun blog to watch

Fri, 19 May 2006 08:45:05 -0400

Follow a Film Professional through the Cannes Festival

Norvegian films may stack out this years filmtrend!

Thu, 18 May 2006 04:52:16 -0400

For years the Norwegian filmindustry has had the ambition to get its well deserved credit at the international arena in Cannes. Annd prizes has been there several years. Now it seems that films from this small Northern country has set out its own styles and this year they have hit a strike with four films in the official program. So check out the Norwegian films on this years program You wont rregret it!

Da Vinci Code: Boos and Whistles

Wed, 17 May 2006 01:03:30 -0400

First reports on the press screening of the much-awaited "Da Vinci Code" last nite say that the film was greeted by boos and whistles by the journalists - "ca commence bien" as the French say.

Update: Read

Scathing review by Variety
first hand report on the Da Vinci press screening