Filmmaker's collective taps hidden talent in industry

The collective at filmmaker Guneet Monga's office

A collective launched by short filmmaker Mansi Jain is bringing together a group of women artistes and technicians from the industry to source untapped talent, and to 'give access to each other's connections, help and experience'. The inspiration for the collective, says Jain, is the all-women group Film Fatales in Hollywood that includes film technicians who 'meet regularly to mentor each other, share resources, collaborate on projects and build a supportive community in which to make their films'.

"Film Fatales has indie filmmakers to big filmmakers [as members]," says Mansi, who has a masters in screenwriting and directing from Columbia School of the Arts in New York. "They help each other. That's what I wanted here. I started at an intimate level by sending a voice note to 15 people in my phone book [on February 7]: women I respect as filmmakers and technicians. I asked them if they would like to be a part of it. All of them were like, 'Let's do it'. I formed the group, and Jyoti [Kapur Das, creative head, Gangs of Wasseypur and Queen], who is a powerhouse, added a lot more people. Within the first four hours, we had 92 members."

Mansi Jain

Being mutual assets
The collective, unnamed so far, includes producers Guneet Monga and Elahé Hiptoola, filmmakers Leena Yadav, Nupur Asthana and Ashima Chibber, cinematographer Neha Parti Matiyani, editors Geeta Singh and Antara Lahiri, singer Jasleen Royal and actors Sandhya Mridul, Divya Dutta, Sayani Gupta, Rasika Dugal and Seema Pahwa. The first meet-up on February 9 was held at Monga's office, with about 40 women in attendance. Jain says, "Why were we able to have a huge first meet within the first three days? There's a hunger in women. There's so much untapped talent when it comes to female filmmakers and technicians. Bringing them all under one roof and giving them access to each other's connections, help and experience is the purpose of it. We spoke to each other about the projects we were working on, and saw how we could be an asset to each other."

Pahwa, who's been an actor in the industry for 35 years and is making her directorial debut with Pind Daan, says, "I have not seen that much of a distinction [between male technicians and female technicians], but definitely, women have had to struggle more to establish themselves: in all the fields and not just ours. We have not made this group to stage a revolution. A lot of our members are already established and have a body of work behind them. The collective is to create awareness that there are so many [women technicians]. On my next project, I definitely know that there are many names I could approach directly."

Taking it forward
The collective will meet once a month, at somebody's house or a cafe. At Monga's office, while there was an "amazing spread," there was also a potluck. "Everybody was requested to bring something so that the host didn't get overwhelmed with the responsibility," says Jain. "But, we don't want it to become like a kitty party. That's not the point of this. This is a very professional group. We work together and are interested in each other's careers and talents. The idea is to take each other by the hand and go a little forward."