On formation

When we started our co-operation in Kolkata we brainstormed about the possibilities and meaning of the word ‘Transformation’. During one of these sessions someone (I’m afraid I can’t remember who) suggested a story. The story tells us about a man who looses his cat to a snake. In short, a snake had wanted to attack the man was it not for his cat, who succeeded in preventing this. However, the snake had bitten the cat during the struggle and so the cat ultimately sacrificed his life to save his master.

I still remember being at a complete loss as to how this story was related to the other proposals/ideas people had put forward. Most of the other suggestions did in some way relate to ‘Transformation’ as we had suggested.

Looking back, I probably dismissed the idea too easily, not in the least because during the preparations I had developed my own ideas and expectations. One of the main concerns for Transit\ion was (and probably still is) how we could develop creative exchanges without taking control of the entire project. Perhaps, stories about sacrifice/power relations did not really fit this aim?

Re-reading my notebook also reinforces my own feeling that we were looking for ways to cooperate as a strategy for creativity. We were all careful to make sure everyone participated, clearly visible in the fact that everyone appears in the film we made in Kolkata. But, it was not only Transit\ion’s desire. The original script written by the Patua is really a combination of many of the suggestions put forward during our initial brainstorming sessions. Was this an intentional amalgamation so everyone was being represented? We were equally non-confrontational when we were invited to respond to the script. Our suggested interventions where all very formal and we hardly engaged in the writing or content of the script.

So, to come back to the story about the cat, it would have been an interesting story to engage with. It would have highlighted, in a more direct way what we were aiming to achieve (ie… to get away from). Sadly, I didn’t see it at the time.

Translated from - 'A Reporters Self Portrait' by R. Kapuściński

“Stereotype – comes not from the knowledge, but from the emotions – therefore is dangerous”

Update

We are at the stage of de-constructing of what we did in India. Looking through the video material filmed during the project, we are revisiting those three weeks; we are re-thinking everything that happened. Leaving Kolkata, we knew it was only a stage of the project that we left behind, that another one will start once we look at things from our homes in London. When we were in India we were impressionable, perceiving things in a sensual way, everything was new and there was so much happening around. The way we thought and behaved was influenced by what was happening around us, was altered by it. However, it was also important to allow ourselves to take in as much as we could, to absorb the atmosphere of the place, to meet as many people as we could, as all those conversations, trips to local markets or wonderings around were crucial in understanding the context of the palce we were working in and understanding where Patua come from. Operating in this unfamiliar environment also made us aware of certain mechanics in our thinking and behavioural processes. We were, therefore, better equipped to see things without certain set of filters (cultural, stereotypical)

New Ways of Communicating

We had to adjust to different ways of communicating during our collaboration with Patua artists. They spoke Bengali, while we spoke English, Polish, Lithuanian and Dutch. None of the languages known to us became useful in a direct contact with our colleagues. I started writing single Bengali words and short sentences down, to engage in the simplest conversations. They would learn the same words and sentences in English. However, what we really tried to understand was the language of symbols and signs - the information that came not only from what was said but also from the way it was said, the way people behaved, the way they lived…

Often in the evenings, we would sit down and de-construct what happened during the day, analyzing our mutual behaviours, trying to read from them. Then we built from it, re-creating the reality, learning.

In the film, this became mostly visible in three scenes, the dinner scene, the first dancing scene and the scene when I speak in Bengali.

To have a dinner with European food came up as an idea during one of our brain storming crits, where Transit\ion introduced the meaning of the term transformation, which was translated to Bengali as rupantor. To make sure that we all had a similar understanding of the word we had a brain storming session, where examples of transformation and possible ways of working with the term would be given. Suman suggested they experience some of our roles and environments, as Transit\ion had visited their villages and lived with them in theirs.

We responded to this with a dinner invitation, where the food cooked and served in a European manner was served and we acted as waiting staff, in the villages the Patua had always insisted on serving us.

The dancing scene was directed by the Patachitra. Tilly and I were invited/requested to participate. By following certain movements and realizing the symbolic significance embedded in them, with some help from Sumona (our translator and interpreter) we became aware of the meaning of the entire song. This awareness opened another door for us, becoming one more key to understanding Patuas and where their creative process begins.

The scene of me talking with Bablu was shot on one of the first days of making the film. I was asked to act in Bengali, but had no knowledge of what the text was about. I read from the tone of his voice and his body language and attempted to respond with the same type of emotion. I also wanted to stand up to him as a woman, I wanted my voice to be loud and my laugh to be powerful. What I was saying was secondary to the way I was saying it, letting my own experiences and believes influence the act.

Film Stills

The screenplay is set in the villages in the district of Midnapur where the Patua live, but shot in the suburbs of East Kolkata, in locations, which resemble village life. In twelve short scenes multiple stories are woven together: the Patua preparing for the film shooting, scenes from their everyday life, and passionate scenes highlighting ecological issues like deforestation and river contamination that affect the Patua on a daily basis.

Shooting On Location

Performed as Play

 

The script was initially conceived as a play, and performed at EZCC. All the action happens within the square on the floor.

Ways to Intervene

Before we started shooting the film we wanted to define the role Transit\ion would have in the process. The Patua had written the script and were the main stars of the story (with cameos from us). To make a film collaboratively, acting as more than just a film crew, we wanted to have some creative input.  The image shows the noticeboard we used to keep track of ideas. Below is a list of interventions we considered, some of which were implemented, others may be still used in future edits of the film. 

 

Video- looped -different version of same scenes repeated

Composition/ structure of filming

Breaking up the play into scenes

Repetition of scenes

Change order of scenes

Prompter

Add a narrator 

Add a character

Add things between scenes

Add another scene

Add sounds or sound effects- music?

Find locations

Props/ scenery

Film on location- ie. river

Costume

Pot/ paintings, how do we involve them?

Swap roles

Lighting

Film Location Recconnaisance

Photographs taken by Patachitra artists.

On one of the days we suggested to go outside of EZCC (Eastern Zonal Cultural Center) where we had our project space, and think of possible locations where we could shoot the film. A group of Patuas took cabs and asked Niels and Arunas to come with them. These photographs were among those taken during that trip and they show locations that later became sets for most of the scenes. It was surprising for us to see so little of the cityscape on them. Was it because Patua were searching for something familiar to them? Kolkata was a place of visits to them, but it was very different to where they lived. In conversations with them they would often highlight the symbolic meaning of certain things they photographed. Like a tree or water. They would also be very precise about the particular elements within shot, for example, a field with a very specific set of trees, a path that resembled one they knew from home and that could not be found in Kolkata. After some time I realized that we were too. I also wanted the camera to be placed in a certain way. For instance while filming the scene in the village Dukhushyam was concerned about his and the other artists position within the frame. For him frame was a theatre stage. I was more interested in the background, thinking of how to capture fragments of the everyday life happening behind the actors.

by Magda

Transformation/ Rupantor