5 Questions with Shalini Adnani
(Pic by Gabriele Sciotto)
“Somebody’s Daughter,” directed by Shalini Adnani, follows a father and daughter into an acting audition, and it becomes a humiliating experience for both. We asked Adnani about how the project got started, how she created a sense of vulnerability, and filming in Mexico City…
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in movies?
I grew up in post-dictatorship Santiago, Chile born to Indian parents. Filmmaking wasn’t really an option for me or a process I had any understanding of when I was young. Nevertheless, my interest for writing and journalism emerged at a young age. I ended up studying at Bard College in upstate New York and worked at DemocracyNow and educational publishing. It wasn’t until much later that I was introduced to filmmaking when a friend offered me the chance to write a short film script. I wrote the script and had the chance to go on set and see the process. From then on, I was fascinated with the medium and its process. But it wasn’t until I came to London for an MA in filmmaking that I immersed myself in the art, and began directing my own work.
2) What inspired this project in particular? Can you talk a bit about the different stages of development?
This project was inspired by growing up in an immigrant community in a foreign country. Especially a country that, unlike many Western countries, was not acquainted with Indians or Asians; there's a kind of innocence in the way Latin Americans viewed ‘us’ growing up. Mostly, I was inspired by a simple moment when I realised my parents were flawed, human and susceptible to humiliation. I think as a second generation immigrant it's always important to look at your parents and the radically different circumstances and obstacles they had to overcome. In terms of development, the story started off much larger in scope. The process involved boiling the story down to its most simple sentiment. I wanted to make something intimate and honest.
3) There’s a very keen sense of vulnerability here. Both lead performances are really nice, and communicate so much with minimal dialogue. What was the process of working with your cast?
Working with the cast was a pleasure. Zara Henstock, who played Issa, was a first time actress with a background in dance. She was, naturally, somewhat self aware in front of the camera as a preteen. I decided to keep the camera rolling in between takes in order to capture vulnerable moment that perhaps would have been missed otherwise. In contrast, her on screen father, played by Akbar Kurtha had years of acting experience. His additional foundation in teaching helped Zara feel safe in a new environment.
I like to rehearse, improvise, and play trust games before shooting. With this project, rehearsals comprised of mostly these exercises and getting to know each other.
4) I would love to hear about your production. Where was this filmed? How long did it take / any particular obstacles that come to mind?
It was shot in Mexico City where we arrived one month before filming, but then due to circumstances actually shot one week earlier. From the moment we arrived, we were in pre-production and had to deal with logistics. We shot for three days, so it was relatively quick. The biggest challenge was finding the background artists who had to be varied in terms of ethnicities and cultures. Funny enough our most effective casting tool was Tinder and other social media outlets, which allowed us to find recently arrived immigrants who were interested in meeting new people. Ever since that experience, I find dating apps one of the best casting tools.
5) What is a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that really resonated with you, and why?
There are so many, it’s hard to narrow it down. I find elements in most films I appreciate. I saw Diamantino by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt and Flatland by Jenna Cato Bass and love the energy of them. Both films have the ingredients to create an absolute disaster—but they are far from that; they feel bold, genre-defying and fun. They might not be the best films I saw this year, but they were the ones that resonated the most because they truly feel like they belong to our—or at least my—generation. They didn’t follow rules, took Western pop culture and applied them to foreign narratives and did not care about fitting in one specific genre.
Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline was my favourite film last year and I still find myself thinking about. I just think the film grammar is revolutionary and, after learning about her her process, really makes me want to make films like that.
Bonus Question: What’s next for you?
A Grown Woman is a feature film I wrote and directed this year. Now I am in the final stages of post production and hitting the festival circuit soon. I’m developing a film set in the backwaters of Kerala — Kollam — which is a project inspired by my summers spent in India as a child and has some parallels with Somebody’s Daughter.
Contact Info:
https://www.instagram.com/shala.adnani/