Author: sch75

The Purpose – to tell the story of what is is like to figure out you are gay and and a Hindu.  Modern Hinduism and Indian culture clash with gay lifestyle, yet Indian gays are very aware of the freedoms gays in the west enjoy.

The Audience – unaware westerners

The Story – Still Developing

A white kid gets a random text from an Indian on a dating app… “do you mind if I ask you a question?” …  when given the OK, the Indian asks “have you ever kissed a man?”  The white guy, intrigued and curious by the question, starts up a chat, which continues randomly over a period of several months.

Early on, the Indian invites the white guy to come over for a visit, that he is well traveled throughout his state and could show his new white friend about.  Over the course of a few months, they go from messaging to chatting on Skype (the first call, the Indian guy is in total darkness, fearful).  The relationship develops even though the two have only met online.

After a year, the White guy manages to get schedule two weeks off from work at the end of the year.  In the three months before his travel, he plans out a trip through Rajasthan with his Indian buddy.

The day before his flights, the white guy gets a message from his Indian buddy that his smart phone has broken, so he won’t have anything but incoming text messages.  The white guy assumes that his Indian friend got cold feet, but after three months of anticipation and planning, he decides to board the flight anyway, as he thinks he’s got a good plan (later to be seen that it was not).

The white guy arrives in New Delhi.  He finds the coffee shop at the airport where they had planned the rendezvous.  No Indian friend there.   White guy sends messages to his indian buddy, and gets one response “train arrive late from Jodhpur, will meet you at airport express.”

White guys heads to the airport express, then waits and waits until finally his buddy whom he recognizes from Skype arrives.  The two head off to their hotel.  The next morning, the Indian gets a test that their train has been canceled, so they book another one to start their journey.  But at the New Delhi TrainStation, they cannot find their train, only to find out is is 12 hours late.  They Uber to their first stop.

They travel the next two weeks, visiting a myriad of cities and villages, traveling the “way a rich Indian college kid” travels.  Including 3AC trains, Mercedes buses, and hiring an Uber to take them on a 50 mile journey.

Over then next two weeks together, the duo get to know each other.  The Indian has a lot to tell, the white guy is a good ear.  Some of the Indians issues are:

1. He’s not gay.
2. He is from a higher cast where being gay is not acceptable
3. If he were gay, then his family would have him (their only son) killed (you NEVER kill your only son in Hinduism).
4. Gays shame families
5. Gays just disappear
6. His family will be choosing a bride for him.  It will be a good choice, as 300 family members will be involved in the decision, 300 can make a better decision than just one person picking their own wife.

By the end of the two week period, the happy ending hasn’t been written, yet.

Other things

1. The Indian guy requests at every hotel that there are two beds.
2. Over the two week period, the white guy never sees the legs of his Indian friend, even though they frequently spend the night in just one of the beds.
3. The white guy never gets sick because he never eats prepared fresh fruit, drinks only hot beverages and eats hot hot food.
4. The Indian frequently asks “do you mind if I ask you a question?”

Other cultural experiences that can be put on film

1.  Cows are sacred, not holy
2. There are no trash cans on the street, but the white guy soon learns that you can “offer your trash” (banana peel, orange rinds) to the cows and the cows appreciate the offering.
3. there is shit everywhere
4. The auto-rickshaw drivers will charge 3-4x as much if there is a white guy, so the white guy had to hide until the deal was struck for the tug-tuk fare.

 

Some random thoughts about successful films

In my many years of sitting though Frameline screenings, to the tune of about 30-35 screenings of shorts and features per year, I’ve seen the successes and the failures.  I seen short films with $250,000 budgets flop while in the same shorts screening, a short that cost $2,200 (mostly food and beer for the team) win as an audience favorite.  We’ve seen several features shot for under $10,000 given prime-time screening slots, then later to the distributor.

Three key elements

Elements for success that the team needs to consider before embarking on the project:

One – every film should have a purpose.  Why make a film if there is no objective.  Most of the shorts submitted to the festivals seem to have “I need to do a film for my MFA degree” as the purpose.  Fortunately, there are a few talented students that can provide some creative work, but most is crap.

Two – every film needs an audience.  Just like the falling tree in the forest.  If people cannot relate to your film, it is DOA.

Three – the audience needs to hear the story.  If dialog is critical, then the audio needs to be awesome (it always hold be, but is frequently not).  But even without audio and subtitles for foreign language films, a well acted, directed

Narcissistic movies with don’t fare well.  See Kill the Monsters as an example.  Written by – directed by – staring = disaster.  The purpose was to self-centered and the audience was the mirror.

What Makes a Favorite

Then there are the traits that tend to make films favorites:

Gay audiences like happy endings, lesbians seem to like (a lot of) controversy where the heroine wins.

Gay audiences like characters to which you can either adore (want, crave) or can personally relate (the viewer thinks to themselves “I was there, too”).

Gay audiences like a “bit of magic” (for a lack of better words) i.e. surprises that contribute to the happy ending.

Some Favorites

Here is a developing list of shorts that have done well in the festival circuit:

I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone  – Written, directed and produced by Daniel Ribeiro.  Ribeiro nails it.  Has ever element of success.  A great story, perfect audio, shot well, good audio, characters with whom you can adore or relate to, and most importantly has that bit of magic and a happy ending.

There was one about a Japanese woman returning to her home after leaving her abusive husband, I’ll look for it.

Trêmulo – Written and directed by Roberto Fiesco.  Also nails it.  Did well but not as well as it should have (¿bias against mexicans, or was it the age difference?) – particularly good about this were unexpected changes in plot.  I can’t find a version with English subtitles, but even without, the visual is good enough that you can get the story.