“The Cinema Travellers” is Shirley Abraham’s feature directorial debut. The documentary was co-directed by Amit Madheshiya. The film premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on May 15.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
SA: “The Cinema Travellers” is the story of three custodians persisting to keep the last touring cinemas of the world running in India. The film is a visual journey through their wondrous travels — into landscapes, legacy, and poetry, as they navigate an exacting moment of technological change. It is a love poem to cinema as the most profound form of the human imagination.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
SA: Back in 2008, I found myself wide-eyed, gawking at eight bulbous tents hitched to the back of gigantic trucks. In the belly of the trucks, cinema projectors whirred away. They illuminated taut white cloth screens erected inside the tents. Thousands sat crouched by the beam, drinking in the magic. I was filled with an empirical curiosity and wanted to know everything.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
SA: The novelist Angela Carter likened the communal experience of cinema to “ancient Greeks participating in the mysteries, dreaming the same dream in unison.” When my audiences leave the theater, I’d love it if they were to reflect upon how cinema brings us together.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
SA: My wealth of inexperience. And yet, it brought me a fearlessness which only comes from not knowing enough — from not having any hindsight or its proverbial benefits.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
SA: Something told me that I didn’t need too much money to make the film — so, in the beginning, I thought it was enough to fund it by writing corporate copy for pesticide companies, saving money by opting for public transport, and not worrying about rejected funding applications. The film is funded through these foolhardy means and also, mercifully, film foundations.
In production, Sundance Institute came on board with funding and crucial Lab support. We have also had the privilege of finding support in the Bertha Foundation, Filmmaker Fund, WorldView PMA, Asian Cinema Fund, and Goethe-Institut India.
W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play in Cannes?
SA: The travelling cinemas of India, with their illustrious seven-decade history, having brought the magic of the movies to faraway villages and now so integral to a cultural tradition, are lost to history. To have this film now heading to Cannes, the very home of cinema, is an honor of the deepest and highest kind. And, “The Cinema Travellers” being my first feature documentary, the level of excitement is lethal. I think I might not see the most precious sight of my life, though — delinquent tears will veil the moment of my first film going up in Cannes.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
SA: “Be a little annoying” is one of the most useful pieces of advice. I see it’s a thin line, but I champion the value of being your own evangelist.
A piece of advice that disappointed me was “Cinema is keeping people in villages poor, think again about making this film.” Daresay, we could do with being more imaginative about richness.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
SA: If you feel emotional, be unafraid of it. It’s okay to direct through your tears. Our storytelling is unique for who we are, and we don’t not need to rob it of our own preciousness. Secondly, take your chances. It may or may not pay off for you, but chances are, you are leaving the field better than you found it, for your comrades.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
SA: Pirjo Honkasalo’s “The Three Rooms of Melancholia” has never left me. It is profoundly deep and moving piece in its observation of the Second Chechen War and the toll it takes on children. It is as immersive in its empathy as in its craft. I remember the humanitarian worker taking the children away from their ailing mother to an orphanage. The humanity and restrained form of the film in this wrenching moment is a cinematic feat.
W&H: What are the filmmaking opportunities for women in your country? Have you seen recent improvements? What do you think needs to be done see some change?
SA: Filmmaking opportunities are a function of social attitude and infrastructure. There is work to be done on both. We need to keep hacking away at the roots of patriarchy that seeks to show women their place. I find it heartening that, increasingly, women are fighting to negotiate their physical, cultural, and social space. A shining example is the Why Loiter campaign. It seeks to challenge gender-dictated ideas of access to public space by actively “loitering’”— sleeping in parks, drinking tea at roadside stalls, and through discourse- organizing plays and workshops. I love this line I read somewhere: “All protests are not marches, some are strolls.”
Speaking of infrastructure, I would laud the efforts of India Foundation for the Arts and Docedge Kolkata, a documentary resource initiative, in providing opportunities and pushing the boundary of creative experimentation for film researching and pitching. Their seed support and sensitivity is crucial and formative. But we still need dedicated film funding programs to bolster it, to keep our long and treacherous journeys going, so filmmakers can make a living out of the work they do. The model of government funding could be more dynamic and responsive to the evolution in the field.
