Programming Director of the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, Mileen Patel, talks to South Asian Parent about film as a career, film as a medium of change, and films at the festival!
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South Asian parents can be wary of letting their children join the entertainment industry…
They’re justified. They’re right as far as it not being a secure environment, as far as it not being stable employment.
This is a completely different industry where so many people want to get into it because of the glamour that’s associated with it that the industry can take people for free at a minimum, if not for very low pay, because there’s such a big demand for people who want to break into it.
That said it’s still a pretty amazing industry. Almost like anything else you do, if it’s what you love and you’re going to be working hard in it, at some point it will pay off.
When?
I think you have to be patient a little bit more in this kind of industry. The money from working in the industry has been very little. I’ve been supporting myself through other means.
The parents or the families, they’re right about the financial aspect of it, at least in the short to medium run. In the long run if you stick it out and you’re very good at what you do, that reward will hopefully come.
And suppose it doesn’t. Is following your dreams, and only working in an industry you love, a luxury of the affluent?
I would say to an extent that’s somewhat accurate. I think when you look at some of the South Asian families where the parents have been successful—I’m not saying that’s an excuse for the kids’ generation to go out and take any risk they want—but it does afford them the luxury a little bit to kind of take a chance, and if it doesn’t pan out, they always have a backup plan.
A lot of our parents were looking for a better life, also an economically better life, by coming here—so in many cases they had to do whatever it took to get that work, to be able to create and sustain their families and provide for the future generations.
We’re kind of in the position where if we want to go somewhere else in the world we can, but a lot of the younger generation, they’ll most likely be settling here. I think the dynamic is a little bit different because our motivation is not to go to a different country for an economic opportunity now.
The younger generation seems to have more options…
I think the bigger thing with the parents to start realizing now is that our generation is probably going to be the first generation, at least in the western world, where they’re going to start having small pockets of South Asians in film and TV, maybe even in music to some extent—where it’ll probably take our kids’ generation for them to see some of us that are actually in it.
It’s kind of like well if you don’t see anyone in , then how are you actually going to get some support? Kind of like when our parents’ generation first came here, there was nobody here, and a lot of the ones that did were engineers and doctors, so now you’ve got a lot of successful South Asian professionals.
It’s kind of a time thing where you need to give it at least a generation; it’s already started, and the types of roles that people might get, that’s a different story—but as far as getting work in the industry I think it’s slowly starting to change for the better.
Are our hesitations about letting our children pursue a career in film due to a lack of exposure?
When you talk specifically about the entertainment industry, I think regardless of which generation it is, or even which culture it is, a lot of people assume entertainment means “I need to be on camera”, “ I need to be a celebrity”.
A lot of people fail to realize that the entertainment industry is just like any industry where you have many different functions—you still need business people, you’ll still need lawyers, you’ll still need marketing people.
There are plenty of people who would go into the industry but would not necessarily be talent.
Do South Asians need to start looking at films, and filmmaking, in a different light?
Within the South Asian community we really love movies in general, no matter what kind they are. I think where you have to make the separation is between stuff that’s done in Bollywood and stuff that’s in the independent world.
Bollywood is getting better but I think they stick to a formula of storytelling, and obviously adding in the song and dance; its pretty much looking to sell what people want to see to escape the world.
And the films that we’re going to be showing are targeted for different types of filmmakers, different types of audiences, and there is more of a message. There’s a lot of realism in there, and I think the stories that are told hit home a little bit.
Tell us more about some of those stories…
There are a few stories, Raspberry Magic and 7 Days in Slow Motion, which I think are great family films, not only for South Asian parents, but also for South Asian kids. It gives two different sets of generations audiences can relate to.
Even the opening night film, Two Paise for Sunshine Four Aanas for Rain, and Ashes—those two are great films that paint South Asians with a different brush. That doesn’t mean it’s in a negative light at all, it’s just a different aspect of South Asian life which isn’t really shown much on film, or it’s not even discussed much in our societies.
When we planned this festival, it was under the guise of having something for everybody. Something for our parents, something for our kids, something for our friends, something for our families—and hopefully that comes across, not only in the movies, but in the whole experience over the weekend.
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The Chicago South Asian Film Festival takes place October 1-3, 2010. To attend, visit http://www.csaff.org/
