Aditi and I keep talking about how we don't wind up spending a lot of time with people from the disabled community. Physical time, that is; online we're connected with a bunch of groups on WA & FB and have our own little community of 1.5K on IG (yay) so that's not an issue.
There's just something about physical interaction that online can never replicate.
And so when we got an invite for this documentary screening on disability and ableism in film, we both knew we had to go. Plus it was at SNDT Juhu, which has one of the greenest, lushest campuses in the city, so it became even more of a must-do kind of thing.
We got to the venue about 15 minutes into the screening of the first film, called We Make Film. It was an hour-long documentary on the lives of three disabled creatives - Debopriya from Kolkata (deaf graphic designer & illustrator), a Mumbai-based blind banker-photographer whose name I couldn't catch, and a deaf filmmaker from Kerala called Mijo Jose.
Produced and directed by UK-based Indian filmmaker Shweta Ghosh, one of the most important issues We Make Film raises is the inherent ableism in filmmaking as a creative medium. So much of our equipment isn't disabled friendly, nor are our sets or the post production software we use.
Nor is the medium, overall. Not to mention the industry itself, which can feel terribly gatekeepy at times.
One blind filmmaker at the screening spoke about his experience dealing with film production executives. Most seemed to love his online applications, but denied him jobs when they met in person and realised he couldn't see.
Aesthetic wise loved the long takes, the protracted interactions between Shweta's team and the creatives, the chemistry they built over the course of the shoot and the overall message, of course.
Documentaries filmed over long periods of time show narrative evolution alongside a steadily growing maturity in thought process and story formation, which is the biggest draw of this kind of filmmaking.
I told Aditi we definitely must work on something more long-form alongside all the short-form, short term content we keep doing. I think we will start working on some ideas we already have.
The second film was a first-person account of the daily life of disabled, wheelchair user filmmaker Reid Davenport. Called 'I Didn't See You There', the film is a raw, riveting, visceral account of life as a wheelchair user in the modern world.
Reid is brilliant in his use of sights, sounds and music to build tension in the way he experiences everyday life. The film is beautifully nuanced with both light and heavy moments, and shows emotions ranging all the way from lighthearted fun to serious annoyance and grief.
He uses his mobility gear and filmmaking equipment in cohesion - quite innovatively - sometimes holding the camera way close to the ground to depict how the grooves in paved streets make movement bumpy, and other times using his wheelchair as a grip device to prop his camera on.
Some shots this kind of setup affords are beautifully evocative of life as a disabled person, and that's the charm of this film.
Right after the screenings we did a chat with the filmmakers, where some useful thoughts were shared about ableism, inspiration porn and the right terminology to use when addressing disabled people.
Some other learnings I want to put down in point format:
1. Industries that hire people with disabilities are happy.
2. The attrition rate in these industries is significantly lower.
3. Divyangjan (दिव्यंग्जन) - people with superpowers. Never to be used in the context of disabled people. Use Viklangjan (विकलांगजन) instead.
4. Abled and disabled people have the same problems. But the way we (the disabled) deal with those problems are different.
5. When the material resources of filmmaking and collaborative spirit are available to all, we all make films.
6. Filmmaking is still very much ableist. Our industry, its people, its logistics, its politics, its social equations and functioning are still very, very inaccessible to disabled people.
Met and spoke to some of the filmmakers after the group discussion, including Prateek Vats, creator of Eeb Allay Ooo. Took down some of their numbers. We're going to shoot some stuff with a bunch of them maybe next month or so. So that bit is quite exciting.
Good day, all in all.
And finally, just want to end with this -
Reid's film closed with the line: "But a cynical part of me wonders if I have joined the freak show." He says this as he looks at a circus tent, a place that upsets him because of its antiquated, offensive representation of disabled people.
Looking around, can't help but agree with him.
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