Santa Fe Film Festival - Naughty Amelia Jane
A clever satire on societal hypocrisy, ignorance and those that go against the grain focusing on the LGBT community.
Interview with Writer/Director Risheeta Agrawal
Watch Naughty Amelia Jane here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you so much! I was always tormented by the deep seeded hypocrisy that festered in India when it came to the LGBTQI community. Our country, like many others, does not acknowledge the most basic human right to be able to love whoever we please. I have seen a lot of dear and near people severely negatively affected by this. There are a lot of groups now who are fighting for these rights. I wanted to give this cause another voice, mine. The topic of homosexuality is an uncomfortable one for the majority of our country; this is also something that I am extremely aware of.
My goal was to create a film that could get my point across while at the same time not hurt, cause discomfort or embarrass anyone watching.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Naughty Amelia Jane touches on an extremely sensitive topic in an extremely innocent manner. At its core, it is a simple love story of two young girls eventually torn apart by their families. My 5-year old cousins have sat and watched the film in the same room as my grandparents and both grasped the feeling I was trying to get across. It’s a sad state of affairs in my country when it comes to the LGBT community. I hope through this film, I am able to change a few mindsets about this community.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I developed the script of the film over a course of 4 months during my time at Prague Film School where I made this film as a part of my Diploma Project. The entire project took me about 7 months to complete. I had immense help when it came to cracking the script from my AD - Yagmùr Misirlioglu, who doubled up as my Script Consultant as well.
This was an extremely tough film to shoot since ambitions were extremely high, budgets were tight, weather conditions were brutal, being peak winter in Prague and most of the crew were all film school students at the time with little or no real film experience.
This film would have never been possible without the amazing crew that was helping me at every step of the way. There were a lot of times when I though the course of the development where it felt like completing this film would be an impossible task but today, just 5 months old, this film has already received 1 Award & 18 Festival Nominations from some of the biggest LGBT film festivals from across the world - the effort has paid off.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The film is doing great! I get emails from all over the world of people appreciating and loving the film. There was a lot of work we put in into the production design of the film and that has also been immensely appreciated. I want to take this moment to also thank my friend and talented Music Director and Composer - Sanidhya Bohra who went above and beyond with the music of the film, he has done a brilliant job. The film is a musical of sorts, so the film would not be what it is without him. Neither would it be what it is without my DOP - Deep Metkar, who was a fellow student at the time.
A personal victory for me was when my 5 year old cousin watched my film and looked up at me heartbroken and said - "People should be able to love whoever they want to".
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The work that went into putting this 12 min film pushed my limits as a Writer, Director & Producer but I’m glad I took on this challenge. Most of my crew, if not all, were all people who believed that the LGBTQI movement needs more voices - no matter how big or small - it was magical to see everyone pushing themselves to their absolute limits to bring my vision to life.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
One of the festivals Naughty Amelia Jane played at was the Queer Kampala International Film Festival in Uganda. In an extremely homophobic Uganda, the festival is a travelling festival where they reveal the venue and time of screenings only a few hours before, to ensure the safety of the festival goers. This is an extremely sad and scary situation for our community. I would like the closeted members of our community to watch this film in an effort to maybe find strength and solace. But more than that, I would like the homophobes and the closed minds of the world to watch this and maybe at least be inspired to take the first step towards acceptance. It’s an ambitious thought, I know, but isn’t that the point of doing anything?
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists.
I would also like to invite artists from around the world to collaborate with me to help spread the word.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
This film touches upon the hypocrisy in society & religion through same-sex love, blind acceptance and rich over-powering the poor. You tell me? What would you like to debate about? :)
Would you like to add anything else?
I went around my city, Mumbai, one day asking a few people what they thought of same sex marriage - most of them were concerned about the fact: how would we make babies if people of the same sex start loving each other. In a country with a population of 1.3 Billion and counting, THAT seemed to be the prime concern of the common man, of course closely followed by religious concerns etc.
Even amongst the educated class, while most don’t oppose it openly, the attitude of “all okay till it’s not happening in my house” is prevalent.
I urge more people to stand up and take a stand for the community.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I’m currently writing my next short which will also touch upon the same topic.
I also own an event agency with my brother where we curate on ground experiences for some of the biggest brands in our country like L''oreal, Hindustan Unilever, Asus, TIGI Professionals, Pernod Ricard, etc.
That keeps me extremely busy as well.
Interview: December 2017
_______________________________________________________________________________
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
_______________________________________________________________________________
Naughty Amelia Jane
A clever satire on societal hypocrisy, ignorance and those that go against the grain focusing on the LGBT community.
Length: 11:37 mins
Director: Risheeta Agrawal
Producer: Risheeta Agrawal, Rishabh Agrawal & Vandana Agrawal
Writer: Risheeta Agrawal
About the writer, director and producer: Risheeta Agrawal: Having produced events for some of the biggest brands in India for over 6 years, Risheeta took a chance when she decided to shift to Prague to pursue filmmaking. Now she also produces Ads and digital content for some huge brands in the country and is here presenting her first short - Naughty Amelia Jane.
Key cast: Fohzan Khamsehpour, Maelika Hani Eberhard, Krishna Prakash
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists
Social media handles:
Facebook: http://facebook.com/NAJbyRisheetaAgrawal/
Other: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7494252/
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Poland LGBT Film Festival 2018
Unrestricted View Film Festival, London 2018
Santa Fe Film Festival, New Mexico 2018