Documenting Lives

by MALIN GURUNG

FROM ISSUE # 165 (September 2009) | IN THIS ISSUE
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If documenting reality excites you and you yearn for challenges that push your creativity to the limits, documentary filmmaking can be a career option for you. This is the most exhilarating and challenging jobs in the world. Like journalism, it is geared to bringing out the hidden reality of life, the injustice, the discrimination, or the just the quaint and out-of-ordinary. WAVE spoke to documentary filmmakers Dhruba Basnet and Kesang Tseten about its career prospects, the passion and much more.

What does it take?
Unlike feature filmmaking, which is pre-scripted and pre-conceived, a documentary filmmaker has to work on a mere idea, the rest of the story unfolds as you shoot. The subject can be anything, from mundane lives of people to intense war zone dramas. This can be challenging as well as rewarding as your craft is only limited by your imagination. You can improvise with your subject accordingly but bending the truth to your convenience is undesirable. Also, being overtly didactic and politically correct is wrong. "Being preachy is the worst," says Kesang.

Although a degree or a course from a film school can help, it isn't completely necessary. "It can  actually constrain you," says Kesang. A film school can acquaint you with the technicalities of filmmaking but it is something that can be learned even outside of it. If you have previously worked within a studio environment like a tv station or a production house or something similar, then film school is unnecessary.

Along with that, an eye for recognising and digging into issues is required. Passion is key, along with the knack for filmmaking and its technical aspects. One has to be ready to commit to the project.

"Love for the process is key," says Dhruba. It will be an added advantage if you have experience in journalism. As the work is generally field related, you should be on standby any time of the day. Empathy for the subject and sensitivity to deal with the situation is required as most documentaries deal with human emotions.

Patience should be maintained all the time as everything doesn't always work according to plan. The most challenging (or fun) part of the job is not knowing where the filmmaking process will take you next.

How much does it pay?
It is somewhat ironic as the money aspect in documentary filmmaking primarily deals with the collection of funds to shoot your documentary, earning from it is an afterthought.   But that doesn't mean earning by making documentaries is impossible. Documentaries like Micheal Moore's Farenheit 9/11 grossing over US$ 220 million worldwide proves that documentaries has the potential to be money-spinners if they are well-made. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth was also a box office hit, but changed the way Americans thought about global warming. If your documentaries are good enough, tv stations or independent studios will buy its rights. Or you can work as a freelancer, working on a fixed salary for an INGO or an production house.

How you make money from your documentaries completely depends on you.

Documentary in Nepal

A still from Kesang Tseten and Prem BK's Frames of War.

If the sheer number of documentaries being made and released is anything to go by, documentary filmmaking is booming in Nepal. Not only are Nepali documentaries increasing in number but they are also increasingly winning  international awards at film festivals.

Nepali documentaries are also becoming bolder by the day, touching issues that would normally be considered unconventional, even taboo. Owning to the variety, Nepali documentaries now appeal to more than just the niche crowd. People now flock to various documentary film festivals that are organised each year, it is safe to say that the reach of such documentaries and their popularity has reached a greater level in Nepal than in most countries.

But like everything, there is always a room for improvement. "There are thousands of issues ready to be explored," says Dhruba. "We also have to match the technical standards and the content maturity of the rest of the world."