Photo Credits: Film School - Narayan Pissurlenkar_1
Pic: Narayan Pissurlenkar
Although Goa has come out with a few good quality films in recent times, the fact remains that barring a few exceptions, Goans have not yet made a mark in the film industry at the national level. Indeed, most film students are forced to move out of Goa to take their filmmaking love to the next level.
In an attempt to change things around, Shibani Keshkamat and Siddesh Naik, two Goans who have made a name for themselves in the film space, are all set to start the Goa Film School in collaboration with Don Bosco College, Panaji.
“ The whole idea came up when I was attending the International Film Festival of India here in Goa where I came as a delegate,” says Keshkamat, who has about 31 years of experience in the film field and has worked on films like The Girl with Yellow Boots. Naik's filmography on the other hand boasts of films like Shalya and Juje. “I was completely appalled as this festival is not like any other that I have attended and nobody seems interested in it. Everyone I know from the film industry all commented that Goa is only for fun and no one seems to take it seriously.”
At the same time, she noted that the festival was not welcome by locals either. “ The Goan people did not identify with it and very little business was coming to Goans other than tourism which was kind of silly so I decided it was time we changed this,” she says. Realising that the root of the issue was the lack of trained and accredited individuals in Goa, Keshkamat decided that bringing in quality training was the need of the hour. Having acquired a vast network of film associates over the years, she decided it was time to also put the network to use.
Finding a like minded individual in Naik, the two of them then approached Don Bosco College with their idea and things slowly began to work out.
“The first step is training. Once you have training you get accredition and references. And then we want to create internships and film making opportunities in Goa and create showcase and distribution opportunities internationally. This is the lifecycle of the project we plan to undertake,” she explains.
The important thing to note is that through the school they are not just focusing on films but are also looking at creating content for the small mediums in large screens right from YouTube to mobiles too. “Each one of these contents require specific know how but the basic is to learn film making. We are actually looking at creating content that is a pathfinder for colleges across the country like a youth based series wherein we hope to work with counselling centres across different colleges in goa and get a knowledge of most common issues, generating content out of this and taking it across to different colleges across the country,” she says.
To start things off, the school will begin with workshops from April 10 onwards where they will focus on scriptwriting and acting. This will be open to all film enthusiasts who have a keen interest in making a career in the film line. From June onwards there will be two courses which is open to students who have completed standard 12 and will include more subjects like editing, production etc with well qualified and noted faculty coming on board.
“ The short term course will be about six months in duration but the completion will depend upon their final film submission which may even go up to two years. The long term course on the other hand will run for ten months. Later we plan to expand the subjects and duration and take it to the level of advanced course,” informs Keshkamant, adding that their aim is to make the education accessible to all.
The other mindset that they hope to change is the need to move out of the state to pursue film studies and also convince parents that there is a viable future in this field. “ Most parents don't mind their kids doing this as an additional hobby course. In fact I'm sure that out workshops will get ample subscriptions. But we want to show that there is a bright future and career here too. We don't want to just supply the ABC's of education but want to change the mindset and structure of the people,” she states.
