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FTII, SPECIAL NEEDS AND A SMART IDEA

When I first heard about the Film and Television Institute of India conducting a smart-phone film making course for young adults with special needs, I was pleasantly excited; and somewhat frustrated.

Not because they are doing something kick-ass, which they often do; but because I wanted to be the person to come up with such an idea. There has been so much of autism, and such a wide variety of film-making in my life, that I should have at least thought of bringing them together years ago. I didn’t. They did.

Kudos FTII, Pune; you rock; yo man, this idea rocks.

Let me tell you, my reader, why I think so.

In my understanding, at the essence of autism, or any variety of psychiatric anomaly (sic), lies the inability to process the information and impulses received, in a manner that normal brains do. Which means these minds sense the same things like you and me, but the way they perceive it is different; consequently, when these brains decide to express those perceptions, they become unique.

If that doesn’t open up a world of possibilities, I don’t know what does!!

If people with differently able sensory perceptions start making films, those expressions are bound to open up a whole new uncharted realm of feelings. They will make films with diction and syntax that are yet unknown to us. They will introduce us to their alternate realities.

Who knows how far this could go? Their access to this handy multimedia tool will enrich our language of emotions, that’s for sure. It’s not just good for them; it’s good for cinema.

The workshop, in partnership with the NGO Art Sanctuary, is being conducted at IIMC, Delhi, in two phases of 5 days each. These phases are separated by 15 days. These images are from day two, phase one.

There’s so much I can talk about my brush with them ‘special’ minds; I can talk about Tamanna Chona from Delhi, on whom I wrote a film about a decade back; about that child from a CABA home in Karnataka, whom I met during a UNICEF shoot, and who didn’t look at me but looked right through me as if I wasn’t there; or maybe the interview of that young boy from Kerala who was a budding footballer but couldn’t quite fathom the sequence of buttoning his shirt, or articulate legibly any of his thoughts; I can easily talk about the scare we had when my son was diagnosed with something they referred to as ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder’; ‘For want of a better name’, the doctor said, smiling sheepishly.

No, not here; not now.

For now I wanted to know what it takes to plan and conduct such a course!! How does one go about explaining shot-division and bounce-lights and sync-sound to ‘special’ young adults?

To understand the genesis of the idea, I asked Dr. Shalini Gupta from Bangalore who runs an NGO called Art Sanctuary; she conceptualized the course.

GENESIS OF THE IDEA

Shalini Gupta, PhD

“My daughter, Gayatri, was diagnosed with Down syndrome. Mostly schooled in inclusive school in Delhi, upon our shift to Bangalore, she became besotted with photography and gradually ventured into the digital space. I was inspired by the way she designed her own website and posted about 80-90 of her photographs on it. It gave her immense confidence and happiness. I thought she was extremely lucky to get a platform through which she could express herself.

It was about the same time I went to the Kochi Biennale; an Art Festival imbibed with a different, a parallel kind of Art Exhibition. Subsequently, many discussions I had with prominent artists verged on creating platforms to celebrate Art created by young adults with intellectual difficulties. In addition, we thought what if we could create a skill building forum – within the same premise?

Art Sanctuary emerged out of this idea. When we approached FTII for the Smartphone film-making course, they were willing to try out this niche. Mr. Jami understood us perfectly, and designed a great course. Our main concern, however, was the high fees. It seemed unfair to subject parents to the high costs usually associated with the short duration courses of FTII; in any case, they have to already spend bank-breaking amounts for their children with intellectual difficulties. When Indian Oil Corporation decided to sponsor, that problem got more or less solved.

I am happy to share that the ongoing workshop has generated nationwide interest. We have received requests from across the country, from parents and students and other organizations, to hold such workshops.

We have also conducted a short course on clay modeling, with fascinating outputs. A very high profile dancer has agreed to hold performance based workshops in Mumbai. The idea is on the move, imbibing many dimensions.

That makes me happy; and as far as my daughter is concerned, she has found a new direction that keeps her creatively engaged; she is busy designing the Art Sanctuary website, which will soon be online. I know, the way she is feeling now, countless young adults across the world can feel the same way. All we need is to give them a forum to prove their skills.” 

For the execution part, I spoke to Ajmal Jami, the course director.

He devised the course, contents and methodology.

A seasoned cameraman, Mr. Jami has been to some of the toughest corners shooting some of the fiercest and scariest news stories of our times. If you want to know more about him, here’s a video on him I found in the YouTube, from his NDTV days.

Do watch it if you are an aspiring professional in our industry. You will feel proud of being in media.

What this video doesn’t say is, Jami was also quite active in the outreach programs of NDTV – teaching film-making to students and others across the nation.

Now, back to the FTII course; I have interviewed Jami, which I want you to see, so I won’t get into those details here; maybe just highlight a few key bullet points.

To design and implement a film-making course for specially-able young adults …

  • You need to employ more of a ‘play-way’ method of teaching, which is basically learning by doing, in a spirit of fun.
  • Tasks have to be assigned in increasing levels of difficulty; every task leads to the next.
  • Take a small group, because every student will need individual attention and specified tasks.
  • Patience, pacing and persistence are the key words.
  • The tool used has to be unobtrusive and easy to handle, which makes a smart-phone just the right choice.

That last point was of particular interest to me, because I too use my phone to shoot for my blog, which gives me far better results than my entry level DSLR.

Now watch the interview, entirely shot in Smartphone.

For this video, I asked one of Mr. Jami’s students, Manan Aggarwal, to help me. He is the one you will see in the beginning of the interview, where Jami is trying to teach him the essentials of ‘clapping’ in multi-cam setups. Just a brief blooper, but it shows how keen a teacher he is.

That apart, during our evolved times, I believe every young Indian needs to know how and when to clap. At least for ‘whom’ to clap.

The CABA family child from Kopal in Karnataka, who looked straight through me…
In NGO lingo, CABA means Children Affected By AIDS.

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Published inINTERVIEWS

3 Comments

    • ANIRBAN B ANIRBAN B

      I really won’t say that Saumya; from my personal experience I know how complicated it is to communicate with special minds. This is my tribute to all those parents who have realized the potential of their child and brought them to a course like this. Believe me, it takes lots of courage to expose your autistic child in front of media, especially the type that do not understand the condition. My respects for them.

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