JAY JOSHI
Over the past few years, filmmaking has emerged as one of the most effective and impact mediums of storytelling. And within the various genres of filmmaking, documentaries have left their own mark. Goa has no dearth of talented filmmakers, and if one wishes to make a documentary, our state has many interesting topics to provide. From its history and culture to its contemporary social and economic position, Goa has an interesting story, and one director has set out to narrate Goa’s story by connecting it to one of the state’s most humble staple foods: Pao (Goan bread). The documentary, which is also titled Pao seeks to unfold the story of contemporary Goa through the journey of traditional Goa bread from start to finish, informs the film’s director Sonia Filinto.
“There is no specific trigger per say about why we chose Pao as subject for the film. We were looking at ways to tell the tale of contemporary Goa, and we thought that Pao is one thing that has roots in our history as well as it is a big part of our life today, and is loved by all Goans cutting across social and economic lines. In a way it also provides an indication of where we are going in the future,” Filinto elaborates while explaining why she chose the humble bread as a subject over other topics.
The documentary follows the process of baking of a pao, taking the viewer from a traditional wood-fired bakery to the annual Poderanche Fest or bakers’ festival held in Socorro, and other places and markets related to Pao around the state, and while doing so, also examines the issues of migration, changing culture, and people’s need to earn a living. “It covers people working with or around bread. So, bread kind of weaves together the socio-economic story of today’s Goa,” adds the director.
“Film festivals are a good platform that has traditionally supported independent filmmakers, and we are certainly considering submitting the film there. We will look at fundraising for marketing and advertising once we finish the film,” adds the director while elucidating future plans for the venture.
The shooting of the film was recently completed, and it is now in post-production, but interestingly, the team is crowdfunding this process. “We were not pretty successful in securing funding by certain traditional ways, so we chose to go for crowdfunding,” Filinto says and further informs, “It’s an all or nothing campaign, which means is we do not reach our funding goal by the stipulated date, the donors get their money back.” The makers have opted to crowd fund only the post-production aspect of the film and decision is yet to be taken about marketing and advertising, informs Filinto. The crowdfunding campaign for the film ends on January 16.
(Scan the QR code to check out the crowdfunding campaign)
