[Music]
hi so I would like to talk to you a
little bit today about hero’s and I’m
sorry if I’m disappointing anybody
before we even start I’m not going to be
going into too much detail about the
heroes that fly around that mutant kind
I want to talk about the much more
exciting type of hero now these can be
fictional heroes they can be real-life
heroes some of them we love and others
we love to hate I’m talking about the
type that exists in documentaries and
feature films so eight years ago I got
my big break I had spent years working
hard dreaming big and I finally got my
foot in the door by getting a job making
tea and coffee for a film production
company it was pretty big now when I was
there you know I wanted to learn as much
as I could from my boss and the other
people working there and I kept hearing
this phrase used over and over again
that one great film can change the world
so I was learning listening trying to
take as much in as I could and I found
myself watching and re watching certain
films that had connected and that he
created a tangible impact on the world
so as I was piecing together how these
films worked how they what methods they
used to connect to an audience I was
looking at ways in which we could
potentially involve ourselves in
projects with a similar kind of an
impact so anyway one morning I ended up
being asked to attend a meeting with a
guy called John batt SEC and I was
really nervous it was very early early
on in my career so I went along to this
meeting knowing full well that John has
an accomplished producer he had
forgotten more than I knew so I went in
and he sat me down he said look I just
want to show you something I want to get
your feedback we’re looking for support
for this on the production distribution
side
tell me what you think and he showed me
five minutes of some footage that
eventually ends up as this film the
people are like a giant and the
government’s they’re like this little
man why is it that this little small man
can control this giant come back and
that was the first time me and my
sisters so in that morning when I saw
that film for the first time everything
changed for me the activists that were
the real-life heroes in this film the
strength their courageousness the fact
that they were fighting oppression and
trying to champion basic human rights
not just for them but for everyone in
their countries it forged this
incredibly emotional response in me not
only did it change the sort of course of
my career and the type of films I wanted
to be a part of but it had me consider
more and more about the methods and why
was that film so impactful on me so when
it comes to a subject matter an activist
filmmaker already has a very very tight
relationship with that subject or that
cause and the thing that I find the most
problematic for a lot of these activist
filmmakers when I meet with them is the
fact that they are they struggle with
being too close to their subjects now
what I mean by that is they already have
this connection with the subject they
understand the reasons why they’re
wanting to make
film but what I have to say to them and
what we discuss in in-depth is how do
you create that response in an audience
who’s perhaps never had any kind of
relationship with that subject or cause
all that time and so this is when I
start looking towards these guys so I
point them into the direction of how
superhero movies are made and what is it
about them that means they’re so popular
well essentially and by the way this is
not an exact science so I’m not saying
that everyone should go away and tell
their activist filmmaker friends that
they need to be making superior
franchises no it’s looking at the ways
in which these films are put together
okay so to be honest each and every one
of these superhero movies are very
similar in part to how an activist would
put together their film their origin
stories these are characters who are
choosing altruism over the pursuit of
power and wealth these are people that
are usually getting superpowers at the
time when at the time of trauma or drama
they may be getting those through times
of Destiny or charts much in the same
way as you will find activists when
they’re putting together their project
will consider their projects to be so I
point them towards the way in which
these superheroes narrative structure
afraind so in terms of in terms of how
you can approach your story you can look
towards these films and you can present
them in a way to help audiences engage
and that’s the critical thing now a
friend of mine said to me a couple of
days ago that making a documentary is
like trying to capture lightning in a
jar but when you’re but making a feature
film is like creating lightning and
there’s going to be certain times where
your activist filmmaker may find a
subject doesn’t lend itself perfectly to
a documentary format so in that instance
one of the things that you were able to
do is to create fictional heroes heroes
that are perhaps bringing together
hundreds of different stories that are
influenced by real
you picked aside after 9/11 I didn’t
have to it was picked for step over here
sir
so he’s that problem he’s an employee
follow me please
have you ever been a member of a
terrorist organization how do you feel
about the United States of America
agent Ford I love the United States of
America
[Music]
so in Meera’s film the approach was to
create characters that audiences around
the world would be able to connect with
catch casting your net wider if you will
creating characters that are influenced
by true stories from you know all the
hundreds of different accounts from
around pre and post 9/11 the reason for
doing that and one of the ways in which
you can create bigger impact by doing a
film with fictional heroes is you’re
able to create familiarity for the
audience now I’m not just talking about
the fact that you can cast this with
big-name stars I’m talking about how the
approach of the characters towards a
subject and how that can be reflected
upon their lives day to day now if you
can create that if you can create that
connection for an audience it’s that
that helps them feel comfortable to
discuss these very complex and sensitive
topics with their family with other with
their friends and that is actually the
where real change gets made the film is
just the spark and that’s why focusing
on narrative structure is so important
now while also talking about fictional
heroes there might be a topic that is
even more range you’re sensitive that
you require another method and this is a
method that I call the the Trojan horse
method or the antihero
[Music]
back to Latian in fact okay I’m gonna
say this now this is a bit of a unique
example okay
this is not your typical subject matter
for an activist film this Brahman our
main project was brought to us presented
by the Indian new wave director q and
one of the things that he wanted to do
was use comedy and farce to highlight
the issues surrounding sexism and the
caste system very antiquated caste
system in in India so by creating these
characters that you can laugh at you’re
essentially able to hold a mirror up to
society and give them a way show them
how not to be essentially so this is the
thing about heroes they look after us
they provide us with hope they validate
morals solve problems and they provide
us with entertaining stories of which we
can learn from and the fact that we are
all now living online in these self-made
echo chambers the fact that these heroes
that we watch in cinemas on films and
documentaries at home they have the
ability to reach across borders across
political party lines and they can
connect with an audience on a very basic
human level and that’s something very
very powerful indeed thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
hi so I would like to talk to you a
little bit today about hero’s and I’m
sorry if I’m disappointing anybody
before we even start I’m not going to be
going into too much detail about the
heroes that fly around that mutant kind
I want to talk about the much more
exciting type of hero now these can be
fictional heroes they can be real-life
heroes some of them we love and others
we love to hate I’m talking about the
type that exists in documentaries and
feature films so eight years ago I got
my big break I had spent years working
hard dreaming big and I finally got my
foot in the door by getting a job making
tea and coffee for a film production
company it was pretty big now when I was
there you know I wanted to learn as much
as I could from my boss and the other
people working there and I kept hearing
this phrase used over and over again
that one great film can change the world
so I was learning listening trying to
take as much in as I could and I found
myself watching and re watching certain
films that had connected and that he
created a tangible impact on the world
so as I was piecing together how these
films worked how they what methods they
used to connect to an audience I was
looking at ways in which we could
potentially involve ourselves in
projects with a similar kind of an
impact so anyway one morning I ended up
being asked to attend a meeting with a
guy called John batt SEC and I was
really nervous it was very early early
on in my career so I went along to this
meeting knowing full well that John has
an accomplished producer he had
forgotten more than I knew so I went in
and he sat me down he said look I just
want to show you something I want to get
your feedback we’re looking for support
for this on the production distribution
side
tell me what you think and he showed me
five minutes of some footage that
eventually ends up as this film the
people are like a giant and the
government’s they’re like this little
man why is it that this little small man
can control this giant come back and
that was the first time me and my
sisters so in that morning when I saw
that film for the first time everything
changed for me the activists that were
the real-life heroes in this film the
strength their courageousness the fact
that they were fighting oppression and
trying to champion basic human rights
not just for them but for everyone in
their countries it forged this
incredibly emotional response in me not
only did it change the sort of course of
my career and the type of films I wanted
to be a part of but it had me consider
more and more about the methods and why
was that film so impactful on me so when
it comes to a subject matter an activist
filmmaker already has a very very tight
relationship with that subject or that
cause and the thing that I find the most
problematic for a lot of these activist
filmmakers when I meet with them is the
fact that they are they struggle with
being too close to their subjects now
what I mean by that is they already have
this connection with the subject they
understand the reasons why they’re
wanting to make
film but what I have to say to them and
what we discuss in in-depth is how do
you create that response in an audience
who’s perhaps never had any kind of
relationship with that subject or cause
all that time and so this is when I
start looking towards these guys so I
point them into the direction of how
superhero movies are made and what is it
about them that means they’re so popular
well essentially and by the way this is
not an exact science so I’m not saying
that everyone should go away and tell
their activist filmmaker friends that
they need to be making superior
franchises no it’s looking at the ways
in which these films are put together
okay so to be honest each and every one
of these superhero movies are very
similar in part to how an activist would
put together their film their origin
stories these are characters who are
choosing altruism over the pursuit of
power and wealth these are people that
are usually getting superpowers at the
time when at the time of trauma or drama
they may be getting those through times
of Destiny or charts much in the same
way as you will find activists when
they’re putting together their project
will consider their projects to be so I
point them towards the way in which
these superheroes narrative structure
afraind so in terms of in terms of how
you can approach your story you can look
towards these films and you can present
them in a way to help audiences engage
and that’s the critical thing now a
friend of mine said to me a couple of
days ago that making a documentary is
like trying to capture lightning in a
jar but when you’re but making a feature
film is like creating lightning and
there’s going to be certain times where
your activist filmmaker may find a
subject doesn’t lend itself perfectly to
a documentary format so in that instance
one of the things that you were able to
do is to create fictional heroes heroes
that are perhaps bringing together
hundreds of different stories that are
influenced by real
you picked aside after 9/11 I didn’t
have to it was picked for step over here
sir
so he’s that problem he’s an employee
follow me please
have you ever been a member of a
terrorist organization how do you feel
about the United States of America
agent Ford I love the United States of
America
[Music]
so in Meera’s film the approach was to
create characters that audiences around
the world would be able to connect with
catch casting your net wider if you will
creating characters that are influenced
by true stories from you know all the
hundreds of different accounts from
around pre and post 9/11 the reason for
doing that and one of the ways in which
you can create bigger impact by doing a
film with fictional heroes is you’re
able to create familiarity for the
audience now I’m not just talking about
the fact that you can cast this with
big-name stars I’m talking about how the
approach of the characters towards a
subject and how that can be reflected
upon their lives day to day now if you
can create that if you can create that
connection for an audience it’s that
that helps them feel comfortable to
discuss these very complex and sensitive
topics with their family with other with
their friends and that is actually the
where real change gets made the film is
just the spark and that’s why focusing
on narrative structure is so important
now while also talking about fictional
heroes there might be a topic that is
even more range you’re sensitive that
you require another method and this is a
method that I call the the Trojan horse
method or the antihero
[Music]
back to Latian in fact okay I’m gonna
say this now this is a bit of a unique
example okay
this is not your typical subject matter
for an activist film this Brahman our
main project was brought to us presented
by the Indian new wave director q and
one of the things that he wanted to do
was use comedy and farce to highlight
the issues surrounding sexism and the
caste system very antiquated caste
system in in India so by creating these
characters that you can laugh at you’re
essentially able to hold a mirror up to
society and give them a way show them
how not to be essentially so this is the
thing about heroes they look after us
they provide us with hope they validate
morals solve problems and they provide
us with entertaining stories of which we
can learn from and the fact that we are
all now living online in these self-made
echo chambers the fact that these heroes
that we watch in cinemas on films and
documentaries at home they have the
ability to reach across borders across
political party lines and they can
connect with an audience on a very basic
human level and that’s something very
very powerful indeed thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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