Explore these sound documentaries that explore the collision of cultures in France

The team records at the L’ As du Fallafel restaurant

Heard melodies are sweet, said the poet John Keats. Then again, Keats would be aghast at the bombardment of visual stimulation that an individual today goes through. For filmmakers, the saturation of the visual experience can prove challenging. The alternative lies in sound, suggests filmmaker Neelansh Mittra. Mittra will join Vedvanti Kasture today at the screening of their two sound documentaries at the Alliance Française de Bombay to highlight how the medium of sound can be just as effective a tool in conveying complex stories.

Both, Mittra and Kasture, are the Indian laureates of the International Sound Documentary Programme held at ENS Louis Lumière in Paris in 2023. Founded in 2021, the scholarship aims to explore the medium of sound to tell stories, says Meera Krishnan, deputy attaché of the audio-visual sector, French Institute in India.

The team records at the L' As du Fallafel restaurant

The novelty of working with sound was what spurred Mittra on to make L'expérience de ses fantômes/ The Sound Of The Ghosts. "The closest reference, I suppose, is a podcast. But a podcast follows a set narrative structure. A sound documentary is simply a documentary that is rid of the visual image," the Delhi-based filmmaker explains. Kasture adds that sound takes on the role of the key narrative tool in this genre.

The subject of the narration also plays a key part. Mittra shares that almost all the students in the programme were drawn to tales of migrants. "We wanted to work on a thriller, a script that is spooky. During our research, my co-director, Yasmine Mahjoubi, and I struck upon the story of Eva, a Spanish tour guide living in Paris. She conducts tours on the dark and violent history of medieval Paris. Her passion and sense of storytelling intrigued and compelled us," he shares.

Vedvanti Kasture

"We [co-director Raghad Kasim and Kasture] were taken by the dish of falafel. It has a complex history between the Jewish and Middle-Eastern communities in Paris. I found the history and cultural thread of displaced people claiming ownership of food fascinating," Kasture adds.

Yet, how does one find the grammar of filmmaking in sound? "There are similarities. For instance, what is a wide-shot in visual filmmaking will be the ambience in a sound medium. As you focus in on the character, you zone in on a particular sound," Mittra points out. This also opens up, Kasture shares, unexplored facets of a story. "I have always been fascinated by the soundscape of a kitchen; it can be quite chaotic while food is being made, only for the same food to be served in a place of calm, quiet conversation," she laughs.

Moments from behind the scenes of Mittra's sound documentary recording sessions in Paris

These experiences and learnings will be a part of the post-screening sessions at the event. "The idea is to introduce participants and viewers to a new experience," says Krishnan. For the filmmakers though, it is the joy of discovering something anew. "The larger impulse is born out of the idea of a unique form that compels to evoke the imagination of the listener," shares Mittra.

Neelansh Mittra

ON Today; 6.30 pm onwards
AT Alliance Française de Bombay, Theosophy Hall, Marine Lines.
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