The selection committee of the Pierre Angenieux ExcelLens in Cinematography tribute, at the Festival de Cannes will honour cinematographer Modhura Palit with the 2019 Angenieux Special Encouragement. Palit will receive the honour at a ceremony on May 24.
The letter received by Palit says, ‘This special encouragement goes to young talented cinematographer, for the quality of the work and the promise it represents for a future long-term career in cinematography. The special encouragement consists of a loan of an Angenieux lens for a future movie’.
Palit, who works in the Bengali film industry, says, “The committee found me via Indian Women Cinematographers’ Collective, (IWCC) where they have my work. The founding members of IWCC and members from Pierre Angenieux ExcelLens in Cinematography got in touch and that’s how I got to know.”
The young cinematographer, who is shooting a corporate film in the jungles of North Kolkata currently, says that it’s an ‘unreal’ feeling and she has not come to terms with the news. “It’s very difficult to understand and comprehend the magnitude of the award. I am kind of scared and overwhelmed,” she says.
She adds that work is going on as usual for her. “We are very tied up as we need to finish lot of shooting before monsoon sets in. In fact, when I got the news, I was shooting for a web series. Life is normal and I will keep on shooting no matter what — after all, I am getting this honour because of my work,” she says.
Palit, an alumna of the Asian Film Academy (AFA), Busan has shot a short film — Paper Boy. She has also shot, directed and edited The Girl Across The Stream, as part of the 2015 Looking China Youth Film Project.
The cinematographer agrees that after receiving the honour, the pressure to perform better has gone up. “It’s not doubled, it has grown 100 fold. People are expecting a lot more from me, which is good for me. But it’s pressurising in certain situations because now I do not have the scope to make mistakes and have to give my best. Somewhere the expectations of the producers, director and people I am working with has gone up,” she says, while in midst of the shoot.
Palit adds that she is still new to the industry and hence she always gives her best. “As freelancers, our work is very unstable so I try to give my best all the time whatever project I pick up,” says the young technician who took up cinematography because it made her happy.
She says that there are very few females in this profession and therefore initially, she had to face scepticism. “In Mumbai, there are several cinematographers and they are doing fabulous work which is at par with international standards. But the numbers are quite less in Bengali films. Somehow it’s been a very male-kind of job, so people think, ‘Will she be able to do it?’. It has taken time to understand that gender and biology are not problems if I can do my job,” she says, adding, “I always believed that once I get to the set, then I can show my craft and let people decide if I do good work or not,” she says. Cracking ‘if she can do is the job’ is a challenge, she says before signing off.