5 Questions with Tanmay Chowdhary
A poetic exploration of a young relationship in Poland in the month of November, “Color of November” is a lovely and quiet observant portrait of youth and place. We asked director Tanmay Chowdhary how it got started, his approach to getting evocative visuals, and a recent film that resonated with him…
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in movies?
I was born in India, in a colonial house left by the muslim tenants who would move to Pakistan as a result of the Partition, a subsequent byproduct of Indian Independence from the Britishers. I lived in a house with twenty other family members and I shared a room with my parents till I was 14. I watched my first film in a jam packed theatre of people whistling and singing along with the chorus of Bollywood when I was 4, and I was hooked. It gave me this sense of space that I could immerse myself in, an alternate reality.
2) What’s the origin story of this project? What sparked the idea, and how did you make your first moves to get it rolling?
I had never been to Europe before. I knew I had to film something, I didn't know what. The spaces, the cold of the winter, the smell of the air, all of it invoked a sense of connection to my own fragmented past. Bydgoszcz, the bars don't close till customers leave. It is 9AM in the morning and I've been talking to Zuzanna for over 5 hours. She is drunk and happy and sad. We talk about identity, globalization, her crush on this girl who had been visiting for the film festival. The night has a flow to it. She tells me, "you know how everyone keeps saying that our generation does not know how to live in the present? That we are on our phones all the time documenting everything around us. I think that my situation is the complete opposite. I live too much in the present. I forget to take pictures. Later, when I look back, I am not sure if any of those moments ever happened in the first place." As soon as she finishes saying that, I ask her whether she would want to be in a film. She laughs and walks to the bar to get another drink. That same night/morning, I also meet Emilia. She is a theatre actress and our conversation is super short. I tell her that I have a camera and a tripod and I would love to make a film here in Bydgoszcz. I ask her whether she would want to be in it and she says yes. The next morning I call both of them and it turns out that they know each other from childhood. They have been close friends. I spend the next 4 days with them, exploring the city where they grew up. The end result was this hybrid narrative-doc short that explores cross border perspectives on the relationship between identity, space and memory in the post globalization era.
3) There are so many great images here, and I love your sense of quiet and space - just letting scenes linger naturally. I think that’s a very difficult thing to capture because the tendency is to spur and capture action and movement. Can you talk about how you approach to filming a project like this? And how you find that in-the-moment reality?
Thank you. There is something about just picking up a camera and filming your surrounding subjects with nothing to guide you except your existence in that present moment. My roots in film come from photography and I work professionally as a cinematographer. I believe in the idea that a single frame when thoughtfully composed can tell a lifetime worth of story. It is all connected in someway or another, the patterns just need to be observed, explored.
4) What’s a film from the last couple years that really resonated with you and why?
Ah, there are so many. One in particular is this film called “Summer Palace” by underground Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye. The film flows seamlessly across decades capturing these moments in the life of the protagonists. There is so much energy and so much sadness and so much beauty. It is a love story at the heart of it, but it is a film that has so much happening in the backdrop - the socio political turmoil. The structure, form of the film is pure art. It is understated and yet full of emotionality. It feel real, as if a reflection of our own existence in some ways.
5) Any new projects in the works?
Yes. There is a feature length documentary exploring the Indian subconscious that I started filming a year ago. There is a narrative feature set in San Fransisco that I am collaborating with fellow friend and filmmaker, Sanford Jenkins. I will be shooting the film for him.
