Despite its national output of over 700 feature films per year, India offers little training for screenwriters beyond the two highly selective government-sponsored film institutes and Whistling Woods, the new private film school in Mumbai. As Indian cinema has expanded its worldwide audience in the last few years beyond its own emigrants, the interest in making films that will appeal to diverse cultures has increased. In the last decade a ‘third cinema’ has grown up between the musical extravaganzas of Bollywood and the austerities of Bengali neorealism: a cinema that addresses social and political issues without sacrificing entertainment value. The distinctive work of Mani Ratnam, Vishal Bharadwaj, Ashutosh Gowarikar, and Amir Khan is visually and musically dazzling while confronting major changes in Indian society.
This year Praxis has has stepped up to conduct screenwriting workshops in several Indian cities. Thanks to grants from the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Praxis director Patricia Gruben has taught a short course at Xavier Institute of Communication in Mumbai and Toronto writer/director Amnon Buchbinder (Whole New Thing) has given workshops at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata and (with influential Indian screenwriter Anjum Rajabali) at the Kerala International Film Festival. Gruben has also begun a series of critical articles on the narrative structure of Indian films, starting with Mani Ratnam’s brilliant Dil Se (1998).
Rather than impose Hollywood formulas, we look for common ground between western goal-oriented screenplay structure and the distinctive cultural traditions and contemporary artistry of Indian cinema. Young writers and filmmakers are hungry for dialogue about cinematic styles and techniques, and we hope to establish an annual Praxis workshop in Mumbai. We’re also planning two digital animation courses for Fall 2009 to be led by Svend-Erik Eriksen, former executive director of the National Film Board Pacific & Yukon Region.