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Cinema with substance: screenwriting, film classics, European, Asian, African, Hollywood, short films

  

Independent Filmmaker Speaks

Ligy J. Pullappally's "The Journey," which is being released in the US by Wolfe Releasing, also won India’s Best Debut Director Award, "Lankesh Award 2005",  the Special Jury Prize in honor of the legendary Malayalam director John Abraham, and the coveted Jury Prize given annually by the State of Kerala.  Chicago Internationl Festival cited Pullappally as a new director who "achieves a piquancy that deepens a sensitively drawn story.”

The sensitively drawn story involves the impossible lesbian love the protagonist Kiran feels for the effervescent Delilah. In their south Indian village where arranged marriage is sill the norm, Delilah (Shrruiti Menon) and Kiran (Suhasini V. Nair) struggle  for a love that is not easily understood. Mortified by her desire for Delilah, and acknowledging that she herself can never realize the object of her affection, Kiran agrees to help a mutual friend, Rajan, pursue Delilah.  However, through a bizarre circumstance, Delilah is shocked to discover that Kiran is the suitor behind Rajan’s poetic efforts.  Delilah responds, to everyone’s astonishment, to Kiran. Though their first stab at intimacy leaves Delilah shaken, the two embark on a romance that proves an evolution for both young women.  In particular, Kiran’s characteristic restraint evaporates, as her confidence blooms. But when their romance is discovered, the scandal is explosive, and a both tragic and triumphant culmination is triggered. Kiran and Delilah will come to learn that it is their life’s journey, both enchanting and heartrending, that will forge the women they ultimately become; most importantly, it is through the journey that they will come to know who they are.  As the film concludes, a new journey begins. The Journey is already being compared to Deepa Mehta's Fire, arguably the first major Indian film to approach lesbian themes with respect and insight.

Q: How does a lawyer get to make a feature film?
A: On January 25, 2000 I received an email about a young woman at a university in the South Indian state of Kerala.  She and her girlfriend had fled the school, presumably under the threat of expulsion as a result of the rumors of their love affair with each other.  The women were recovered and sent back to their respective families.  The next day, one of the young women’s body was found floating in the reservoir of a dam.  It was a tragic loss of young life and potential, a suicide.  It was, I would learn, an all too familiar circumstance in the South Indian state of Kerala.

The story of the two Kerala university students bore a striking resemblance to the fictional back-story of my second short film, “Uli.”  I wanted to do something to draw attention to the alarmingly frequent incidents of gay suicide—to try to stem that tide; I knew that isolation was a factor in these incidents, so I considered creating a positive media representation of young gay people.  I began writing the story of two young Indian women in love, this time as a feature length film.

In the summer of 2002, my seventh year as a public interest lawyer, I was awarded national Sunshine Peace Award, for my work in women’s issues.  That recognition came with a substantial cash award.  That award offered the seed money to begin work on the film that I had been wrangling with for two years.  I saw the film as another means of effecting social service.

I spent eight months in India, working on other friends’ films, writing my script and exploring the feasibility of making my own feature film.  I returned to Chicago for a few months to complete my script, meanwhile mobilizing the elements for a film shoot in Kerala.  In October 2003 I arrived once again in India, this time with the script for a feature length film.

On the night of January 26, 2004, exactly four years from the date I received that email about the drowned young woman, and nearly seven years after the making of my film short, “Uli,” I arrived in Ottapallam, Kerala, to make the feature film, THE JOURNEY.

Q: Speak to us about your early introduction to filmmaking.

A: My interest in filmmaking arose from my love of writing. Shortly after law school, I wanted to see how my work would translate into visual media, so I made two short films. They were shot on video, and my friends acted in them. They were not aimed at festivals, or for any type of release. I did it just to enjoy the process. When I decided to make the feature film, “Sancharram”, I took a three week crash course in video production, and learned a great deal from a friend of mine who had made a Malayalam film called "Bhavum."

Q: How did you prepare to write the script? What structural decisions went into the writing?

A: The lessons of two texts went into the script: Syd field's "Screenwriting":  I used a basic Hollywood structure to organize the film. David Mamet's "On Directing Film": after reading this book I rewrote every scene--I eliminated all the dialogue and tried to reveal the story through visuals alone, adding dialogue back in only as absolutely necessary.

Q: Several Indian-American film-makers have gone back to India to make their first films. Can you discuss the financing and cost-related advantages?

A: Making films in India costs about a quarter of what it costs in the US. I self-financed the film, which would have been impossible if I shot it here in the US.

Q: What is your next project?
A: A feature film on the life of a woman who sacrifices her body for a higher social good--very Christ-like.

The Journey's Path:
Chicago International Film Festival (World Premier)
Indian International Film Festival
Mumbai International Film Festival
Palm Springs International Film festival
Made By Women International Film Festival (India)
Washington DC International Film Festival
Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
Boston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Inside Out Toronto Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Settle International Film Festival
San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
NewFest: New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
OutFest: Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Out On Screen /Vancouver Queer Film Festival
FILMI: Toronto South Asian Film Festival
Seattle South Asian Film Festival
Closet Cinema: Southwest G&L Festival
Texas A&M University
Milwaukee LGBT Film Festival
Austin Gay & Lesbian Fest
Tampa International Gay & Lesbian
Hamburg Gay & Lesbian
Barcelona Gay & Lesbian
World Film Festival of Bangkok
London International Film Festival
Cardiff Screen Festival, Wales, U.K.
ImageOut: Rochester G&L Film Festival
One in Ten/Reel Affirmations, Washington D.C.
Chicago Reeling/Chicago Filmmakers
Image + Nation Montreal
Out on Film/Atlanta Gay & Lesbian
OUT Video (Adelaide, Australia)
Queer Screen/Mardi Gras Film Festival, Sydney, Australia
Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Soorya Festival, Trivandrum, Kerala, India

Cinema with substance: screenwriting, film classics, European, Asian, African, Hollywood, short films