LET IT ROLL: A filmmaking workshop in progress

PSBT was founded in 2000 with the objective of providing an independent and democratic space in the electronic media, free of commercial or political interests. Filmmaking, the people behind PSBT thought, was a device that would help the trust achieve its goal. Terming it an ?embryonic initiative?, managing trustee Rajiv Mehrotra says, ?It started with my initial frustration as a filmmaker because of the absence of an empowering context to make the kind of films I wanted to.?

With assistance from noted filmmakers like Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shyam Benegal ? who, amongst other reputed names, are its trustees ? PSBT wanted to create a context that would enable filmmakers to give their best. And it has been quite successful too ? PSBT films have been screened at 150 international film festivals, and won 20 awards.

The initiative begins at the elementary stage of film finance and the procedures related to obtaining one. Independent filmmakers get finances that are often twice the amount the government or the public sector offers and aren?t even asked for a bank guarantee. Doordarshan also has an agreement with PSBT to provide its films with free airtime, besides raising half of their production cost. Key allies like Unesco and the Ford Foundation help arrange for the other half.

In addition, PSBT is on the verge of completing a series of instructional ?how to? videos that will introduce potential and practising filmmakers to the elements of independent documentary film production. ?This foray into areas of skill enhancement is to urge filmmakers to experiment with form and thus bring them closer to cutting-edge global standards,? Mehrotra asserts.

The trust also lays a great deal of emphasis on the clarity with which a filmmaker approaches a topic. Says Varun Mathur, who is on his maiden venture with PSBT, ?One must be absolutely clear about the project before approaching PSBT.? In fact, it was the brief on the PSBT website that encouraged Mathur to give fimmaking a shot. ?I drew up a script and approached them, and the response was good. The funding came at once, and I got started,? he asserts.

PSBT thinks the communication of ideas can only be successful if filmmakers believe in them passionately. ?What we look at is how a filmmaker?s thoughts on an issue are unique,? explains Mehrotra. Trisha Das, an award winning filmmaker with PSBT, adds, ?Whether you relate to a brief politically, personally or socially is your prerogative.?

The trust chooses its films from proposals that conform to the broad outline provided in the commissioning brief. The subjects are eclectic ? some of the recent films draw from issues as varied as the status of Muslim women in India, sexual harassment at the workplace, etc.

PSBT doesn?t interfere in the creative aspect of a film. The trustees review films but, as resident filmmaker Sabina Kidwai says, ?They give suggestions which the filmmaker may or may not choose to heed.?

But the initiative has its shortcomings too. Not every film is good. Mehrotra, though, has a different take. ?That?s the price for wanting to experiment. It?s a risk we are willing to take,? he asserts. Mehrotra hopes there are a thousand more PSBTs to facilitate this kind of a model. Going by the number of briefs ? 500 to 1000 for 25 films that the PSBT commissions on an average every year ? even that may not be enough.