Kshitiz Adhiraj: "Cinema cannot oppress because it's an art form and if it oppresses, it's not an art form anymore"

Kshitiz Adhiraj, along with a group of unconventional filmmakers, is on a mission to start a movement that may possibly change the face of Nepali films. Driven and outspoken, he is the co-founder of Harke Films, an independent film production house that produces “conceptual cinema of change”. Seeing a need for film education in Nepal, Harke Films created a project called the Documentary Open Skool and its network to bring together like-minded filmmakers and amateurs interested in pursuing filmmaking. Kshitiz is the director of the NU Struggle, a film that documents how the April Revolution of 2006 took place in the small university town of Kirtipur. His most recent creation is Being Me, a story of the life of an individual in contemporary Nepal, which is currently screening in Kathmandu and will travel across Nepal in the coming months. V.E.N.T! Magazine talked to Kshitiz at his office about cinema as an art form.

Why films?

I had this major dream to become a photographer, basically, and I didn't want to study anything else. I went to a lot of places to study photography but ended up not being such a good photographer. Then sometime around 2003-2004, I was involved in making a very small, crappy documentary on some stuff happening in Mustang, and that's how I kinda started my film-based career.

Do you mainly shoot documentaries?

When I started film, I was, and still am a very stubborn guy and was really only all into documentaries. In a lot of ways that has really phased out and I have really started questioning the way documentaries are made. I don't like the whole feel of documentaries anymore. I think they’re extremely propagandized. They're not really an art form— that's my feeling right now.

What do you mean by film as an art form?

Everything is an art but once there is a lot of market behind it, it evolves; then it becomes something grand. There are many economic biases. The question is, as an art, how does it free you? Is it freeing you from something? As an observer, what do you get out of it? What we feel is that art should be able to free you in the first place and not constrict you to given social values, social stereotypes and a lot of economic propaganda. It should be able to give you multiple conclusions. We want to make conceptual films.

What is a conceptual film?

We want to make films that are based on concepts. I mean all films do have a concept but the idea is to make films where when the audience watches it, you’re not supposed to be completely driven by the concept. The audience has to come up with the concept and they have to be able to analyze and be in a situation where they are constantly discoursing with the concept independently. That's the core idea. It’s about trying to find ways to minimize the manipulation.

Is that really possible?

Documentaries are revolutionary films and that’s how it started in the ‘70s. But now there are no revolutionary films… Manipulation can never entirely go away because it’s an art created by an artist who has a certain vision, a certain way to do things but what can be done is we can create ways in which the viewer has multiple options. The film is not constricting. It does not restrict you to a certain track of mindset. Making the viewer think a certain way is oppression. Cinema cannot oppress because cinema is an art form and if it oppresses, then it's not an art form anymore. Our main core concept is that, when it comes to conceptual cinema. In the long run we would like these ideas, as most artists do, worked out in bigger concepts.

What do you think about Nepali films in the cinema?

I am not against putting things on cinema but I do not think Nepal is at a stage whereby Nepali films should be put up in cinemas. Because first, there’s a whole thing about cinematic culture. Cinema is a cultural product and to become a cultural product it has to go through a longer process where people are involved in it. There needs to be a form, structure where people are familiarized. Nepali films right now are made to make money. Nepalese people have been fed a certain way as to how a film should be.  In Nepal, it has to be a major factor of entertainment. Obviously there is a whole debate about what developing countries need. I think developing countries need both entertainment and development; we need a middle ground.  There is a lot of vested interest in entertainment and it’s just lost in stereotypes.

How do films use stereotypes?

Dhostana is great film about how they’re using social stereotypes to make cash. The film is about gays and it’s a comedy flaunting their gayness, everyone laughs and they make a lot of bucks.  Where is that leading to?

Is it harder to promote your concept in Nepal?

There is no abroad in our concept. Our concept was created in Nepal so it’s very Nepali in nature. We don’t have answer to whether people will understand our concept abroad. We're selling this film to a lot of festivals but that’s not our market. We want these films to make sense in Nepal because that’s where it’s been created and that’s where the idea of making films came up.

What do you think of Slumdog Millionaire?

It sux.

What makes them suck?

It sells on poverty. If I talk about my poverty, I talk it in a different way. I don't want to be sympathized. It doesn't lead to anything crude. These are films that come out of sympathy; come out of extreme fantasies. In star wars films, seeing all these costume-wearing people and in India, some kid jumping into a shit pile and coming out to catch Amitabh Bachchan is literally the same thing. It’s both fantasy and it’s how fantasy is created. Fantasy is everything that you cannot reach or have access to, and once you’re given that, at the end you enjoy both films like crazy ‘cuz your fantasy’s thirst is full to the max. It's enjoyable but then again, are you doing something about it? If I'm going to be talking about someone else’s issue, it has to lead to something crude.

What do you think about big productions like the South Asian Film Festival (held annually in Nepal)?

I think it's good, but it has to hit the streets, that’s all we have to say. It’s (These festivals) increase (the number of) Nepali upper class to watch documentaries. You’re watching some poor people while sitting on your couch eating popcorn and you’re having fun out of it. So why are you making films in the first place? That’s where I say we don’t do docs. We don’t make docs anymore ‘cuz docs are a failed concept. It was supposed to be revolutionary in nature but it’s not. Where has the revolutionary factor gone to?

Maybe it’s the rich people who need to watch documentaries because they have the money and they can help more. What do you think?

It’s about priority. More than saying I’ll give you money.  (It’s more beneficial to think) this is happening, it’s not right and I have a certain idea…come up with an agenda on how to change it. Then it becomes revolutionary in nature.

How about people who can’t afford the workshops?

We’re starting a project called the film familiarization program. It’s a one year project that goes out to the extreme remote areas of Nepal like Dang, Bardia and Doti. We do a basic workshop on imagery and concept behind creating an image. We give them basic cameras and we give them three months to make photo stories. We select five from each district and pull them for a month-long long workshop on cinema. We select three films from the workshop and give a small grant so films can be made by direct supervision by DOS (Documentary Open Skool) and goes on a nationwide street travel.

When you say street travel, you mean showing films on the streets?

We believe that the common Nepalese should have access to films instead of just the rich who can afford to go to cinema halls…that’s why we promote street screening.

Tell us about the Documentary Open Skool (DOS) network.

We were just working and this idea hit me that maybe we should work with young people because a lot of them are interested in films. Instead of just us talking in groups, we should meet people and make our network bigger.  I mean, making films is not that expensive. Many people think it’s bafre (wow), it's cinema, it's Aishwarya Rai, it’s big, big cameras, it’s Zoom TV. We should be able to erase that idea. When people are familiarized with the cinema as an art form then we can start a completely new thing; start a point for Nepali film. That's our main thing. That's how we came up with the DOS network. We want to promote a conceptual cinema of change. Why change? People should be able to analyze and they should be in a certain discourse with the content of the film whereby they come up with their independent ideas. That we believe is the core idea behind change. You have to have your independent ideas. In that way, cinema should play a very important role.

What does the DOS network offer?

By end of 2009, we want a somewhat workable structure. For example, if I'm interested in films, I should be able to catch five, at least three good film screenings happening every week in town.  Second thing, if I want to talk about films, I should have access to people or involved in the process of discussing film as an art form or social utility. Third, then if I want to make films, I should have access to the medium. We want to promote filmmakers to put more thought and research before shooting a film. Once the concept is ready, we can have you hooked up with screen writers, filmmakers where they give you resources of books to read, films to watch at DOS film resource center. We believe that you should have ample materials like books and online resource. If you don’t have equipments, you make a proposal to DOS and we give you the equipments depending on your budget.

How do you get your funding?

Right now the whole thing is voluntary.  We’re very new so we don’t have money right now but once it becomes larger, we’re hoping something will l come up. The larger idea is if the resource center starts functioning, it’s supposed to be a public library where you can have access to everything with very little money. We’re also providing film workshops where we promote the idea of making films with a digital camera.

You just launched a new film called Being Me. Tell us about it.

Being Me is extremely theoretical. I have calculated each and every shot, each and every sound bit. That was fun doing it. I wanted it to be an extreme prototype of the concept we’re talking about (here today). Because it’s fresh and new, we wanted to see how people are going to absorb it. These films have to make sense to a lot of people. We are in a preliminary stage, a fresh concept and we are not sure how much Nepal can absorb our new film.

Being Me, the latest collaborative project of Harke Films and Documentary Open Skool will be opening in Kathmandu starting April 14th. This is the first phase of the screening; the second of which will happen in 20 various urban and rural destinations across Nepal in November.

Screening dates in Kathmandu are as follows between 6:30-7:30pm.

April 14th: New Baneshwore Chowk
April 15th: Patan Durbar Square
April 16th: Bkahtapur Durbar Square
April 17th: Kathmandu University
April 18th: Nayabazaar Chowk, Kirtipur
April 19th: Gongabu Buspark
April 20th: Ratnapark

For more information, go to Harke Films, Documentary Open Skool or join the Facebook group here.

Interview by Yuko Maskay and photography by Shreyans Tamang and Yuko Maskay, V.E.N.T! Magazine.