All about passion to fulfill a dream

What happens when any person is bed ridden for three months because they can’t walk due to a ligament tear? You’d think they’d loose their mind out of boredom right? That’s not the case with Apoorva Marur. A talented young filmmaker and the co-founder of ‘Andforstarters’, she binged watched every movie that released in the year 2017 and by the end of her foot’s recovery, she too had a story to write that she shared with her family.

Soon she decided that the fine has to be made with the help of crowd funding, Cut to 2018, it’s almost been a year since she and her sister have been working towards making that story a feature film and today, they are about 40 days away from reaching the target of their crowd funding campaign for the film.

Excerpts
What is ‘All About Michelle’ all about?
‘All About Michelle’ is an investigative thriller meets travelogue, shot entirely by women farmers (part of an NGO called Deccan Development Society) from Zaheerabad, Telangana, who started shooting films as they recognized the advantages of using cinema to spread awareness about the practices of food sovereignty.

What inspired you to take up directing?
When I first wrote the script, it wasn’t intended to be made into a film. The story just came to me. When it comes to direction, I guess having worked in films for the last 10 years, somewhere at the back of my mind, I knew I would get into this space.

What made you chose farmer women for the film, how are they involved?
The idea behind the film is to encourage and empower women. I’ve known the Deccan Development Society for many years now. As a platform that believes in ‘starting’ something, it was only natural that we, as Andforstarters, would collaborate with an NGO that believed in giving women farmers a platform to start communicating. These women farmers have been trained in filmmaking, radio and sound. They handle a camera or a boom mic with as much ease as they would a sickle.

These women farmers recognised the need and the use of media to spread their message of food sovereignty - each farmer is a seed bank on their own and can provide for their families for years to come. They have made over 500 short films on various subjects and have travelled to over 30 countries, meeting other farming communities who share the same goal of being food secure.

What is Deeksha, your sister’s role in the film?
Deeksha is handling the publicity design for the film as well as playing the role of Maggie, a doctor’s secretary.

Why did you decide to use crowd fund?
A lot of filmmakers I had spoken to, appreciated the idea of using these amazing women farmers as part of the crew. But had also insisted on bringing professional cinematographers on board. My fight from day one has been that these women are amazing filmmakers themselves and while they may not speak the same technical language as other film makers, they do a splendid job at storytelling.

And the same happened with potential producers. Nobody wanted to touch a film that was being made by farmers. They didn't see the potential of these women and refused to give them a chance as the team lacked commercial names. This is why I am crowd funding this film. I wouldn't dream of doing this project without this amazing team nor will I give up creative control by bringing in big names. The only way I can keep both my team and my creative freedom, is by crowd funding.

What is your experience of crowd funding?
I was the producer of National award winning film 'Leeches' written and directed by Payal Sethi. But this is my first time at running my own campaign.

What are the risks and challenges associated with your project?
Our biggest risk is not reaching our goal, which means it’ll either delay or cancel the project. Apart from that, most of the film is being shot outdoor and underwater, so weather plays a huge role in that. Another challenge is training these women farmers on a new camera. While they are mostly illiterate - they have a unique way of remembering buttons and where they are positioned on the camera.

Working with a different camera definitely made them hesitate a little, initially. To ease their fear, we planned a 30 day workshop with a team of senior Cinematographers from Hyderabad who will help these women understand the workings of a camera suited for filming cinema. After we filmed the trailer, they definitely became a little more comfortable with the camera but were also kind enough to admit their unfamiliarity with it.

Why should people believe you and fund this project?
We are raising funds to get into production and postproduction of this film, we didn’t have anything to show other than a concept note to get approved for crowd funding on ‘Wishberry’. To show how serious we are about this film, we flew down our actors from Mumbai; Delhi, got our crew together and filmed a trailer.

We are here to see this film through and not just stop after the trailer. This film serves as an opportunity for many a reason: giving women farmers a platform to tell a story other than what they see in their villages. It gives a team of 30 people (28 women) to work together, provng that women can indeed come together for a common goal. In this day of women empowerment, there is no stronger message that I can deliver to show my commitment towards a wonderful cause of empowering women.

(If such a project piques your interest and you would like to back the film... reach out to Apoorva and her team at [email protected])