The challenges faced by independent cinema are the same as those faced by an independent person, director-cinematographer Prathap Joseph has said. Speaking at an open forum on the challenges faced by independent cinema on the second day of the Regional International Film Festival of Kerala (RIFFK) in Kozhikode on Saturday, Mr. Joseph said the challenges always arose when someone dared to tell the truth.
Citing censorship at various levels, even during the shooting stages, he said the duty of art was to overcome all such challenges and to emerge victorious. “Challenges do not matter for the truly talented,” he added. Mr. Joseph was the director of movies, Randuper chumbikkumbol and Kuttippuram palam and the cinematographer for many films including S Durga.
Prem Sanker, the director of Randu Per, which was screened at the festival on Saturday, said the absence of well-known names in the cast was a major hurdle in ensuring distribution. “The theatre owners do not want to screen such films only because people who love good cinema do not make an effort to watch it on the big screen,” he said.
Prashanth Vijay, the director of Athishayangalude Venal, which was also screened on Saturday, said independent cinema faced more challenges that mainstream cinema during shooting, mainly due to financial constraints. The directors also had to compromise on the topics selected for lack of finance, he said.
Writer Jansy Jose cited the problems faced by women film-makers. She said nobody would want to fund a film directed by a woman as they often considered women to be incompetent. The scarcity of female technicians in cinema needed to be rectified, she said. She pointed out that even women were reluctant to watch woman-centric films.
