Skara Highlight: Rizza Alee on the Challenges and Opportunities as an Indie Filmmaker
It's a bitter truth, but commercial filmmakers often smoothly sail through while securing a budget for their films or screening themselves on the big platforms, while this seems like an arduous task for independent filmmakers. Finding a platform and minimal funding is a perennial challenge that filmmakers continue to face, and adding to this pressure is the regional issue. For example, Kashmir, known for its breathtaking scenic view, has had some brilliant directors like Vidhu Vinod Chopra primarily known for his movie Mission Kashmir, and Kamal Swaroop, known for his documentary Rangbhoomi. Both these directors have achieved international acclaim. There were films and documentaries like Harud, Yahaan, Haider, and Ocean of Tears that went beyond capturing the beauty of Kashmir by showcasing the political unrest.
These films were directed by renowned directors who had the resources to bask in the spotlight, but breaking into the film industry from Kashmir as an indie filmmaker is often a challenge. Investors hesitate to fund them due to controversies, boycotts, and legal issues. Lack of infrastructure and equipment are other pressures. Moreover, indie filmmakers don’t have a great market presence, or star power and can’t promise a high return on investment, making them less attractive to receive any funding.
Yet, despite the challenges, they continue to tell their stories by operating on a minimal budget, often battling odds to bring their vision to life.
Today our interview is about one such award-winning indie filmmaker, Rizza Alee from Kashmir’s Bramulla district who is doing his bit to revive cinema in his region. While talking to us, he shared with us the challenges he faced while directing his film and his passion for the same.
We hope that today’s article nudges you to think about why giving up is not an option and why it’s important to tell your story no matter what.
Limited Funding is a Growing Concern
Gathering funds and making a film for a wider audience is a big challenge, especially for an independent filmmaker. According to Feedbox, only 3% of independent filmmakers are successful, which is quite less than the number of indie filmmakers out there, highlighting the industry's competitive nature.
It's almost difficult to stay positive when there is absolutely no one to fund your movie. And with so few creators making money, it becomes a bit obvious that funding is an issue.
Q - What are the challenges you faced while securing funding for the film?
Rizza: Securing funding is an ongoing challenge for independent filmmakers. It’s ironic because we live in an age where content is one of the most valuable and sought-after commodities, yet access to funds to create content is another Everest to climb! Most of the money raised so far has been through grants and crowdfunding in the United States. I’ve been trying to make connections in India to support a locally produced, home-grown film, but alas. The only exception has been the financial support and ongoing encouragement from GoPro India. No other companies or individuals have come through yet.
Plight of Regional Filmmaker
Creators like Rizza, from Kashmir, are in a disadvantageous position, often cut off from the mainstream movie industry. He says “Our greatest challenge, which is more of an intuition, has been the lack of financial support in India as the subject of my films is Kashmir. I can’t help but wonder if the two are related?”
Finding a Platform is a Problem and Film Festival is the Way Forward
Another big challenge for creators is finding the right platform to showcase their talent. If the content is good enough, it is likely that OTT platforms might approach a creator or will buy their content, but the rule of thumb is - it should be attention-grabbing, otherwise creators will have to resort to other broadcasting platforms where the probability of getting paid might be negligible.
Usually, new filmmakers resort to film festivals as an entry point to getting recognized nationally and internationally. It’s like the last piece of hope for them where their work can truly shine.
Q- There are times when filmmakers have problems finding the right platform to showcase their talent. Did you face any problems ?
Rizza - Thankfully we haven’t come across that yet. Our films have been entered and accepted in film festivals both nationally and internationally and we were honored to win the Audience Award last year at New York City’s Astoria Film Festival for our film, ‘It Is This’ which was Executive Produced by GoPro India. This film was then picked up and distributed internationally through Pocket Films and is available for free viewing through their online platform. Film festivals are great opportunities to have independent films viewed by film lovers and the film industry.
The Process of Filmmaking
Q: Can you please share the process of producing, monetizing, and distributing your film?
Rizza shared with us a beautiful story about his journey of hope, and resilience and how culture and traditions gave shape to his idea and vision towards filmmaking.
A few important takeaways from his journey that would help any filmmaker -
- Finding your passion and niche is super important in filmmaking
- Finding someone who can endorse and fund your work, especially as an independent filmmaker is a must
- Find the perfect camera and lens to shoot - That should be the primary goal
- Identifying key creative members [ family, friends, or anyone] makes your movie a whole
- Film Festival is a one-shot way to getting recognizing - As a creator it’s important to pitch your films to any film festival
- Representing yourself and your team and forging connections should be of utmost importance
Rizza - The winter season is that time of the year that I live for and anticipate eagerly as my greatest passions in life are nature, the mountains, snow, and snowboarding. The exhilarating feeling of gliding down the powdery slopes on a snowboard is the kind of rush and closest feeling to flight imaginable. As a filmmaker and athlete, one of my greatest gifts has been the enormously innovative camera brand called GoPro. Their compact camera is ideal for adventurers and athletes and is easily mounted to capture thrilling adventures and activities. I've been fortunate to have been invited as an official Family Member by GoPro India as of 2022 to create unique content, and the first concept I pitched to them was the obvious merging of my loves for filmmaking and snowboarding.
My American producing partner, Shidan Majidi, and I decided to pitch the concept of a short snowboarding film that captured my love for the sport. The documentary tells the story of how 54-year-old Firdous Ahmad Chaila introduced snowboarding to Kashmir, and how the sport is growing in popularity here. With Shidan and myself co-producing, GoPro India as Executive Producers, myself directing, and Shidan writing the screenplay, we decided to spread the net wider. We were very adamant about having an original soundtrack for the film and wanted to give the music a distinct Kashmiri sound so I reached out to local singer-songwriter, Ali Saffudin who composed the soundtrack in a matter of weeks! Next, I identified a talented editor in Chennai (India), Darshan Karunamoorthy, and one of India's foremost FPV Drone Pilots, Niche Films. I selected an old Persian poem to set the tone at the top of the film and for this we worked with voiceover talent, Behzad Raeisi from Iran. Finally, the team was completed with Title Design/Animation artist, Matt McLaughlin from New York City.
Once the final cut of the film was approved, we submitted our short to New York City's Astoria Film Festival and we were officially selected to have our film screened at the iconic Kaufman Astoria Studios - the location for Apple TV and many great American films and TV series. In June 2023, IT IS THIS won the coveted Audience Award at the festival and thus began a series of festival entries including the Himalayan Film Festival in Leh produced by legendary Indian film critic and producer, Anupama Chopra. I made many great connections there with Indian representatives from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney, etc. Ms. Chopra also introduced me to an online film distribution company, PocketFilms based in Mumbai with whom we entered a contract for our film's distribution.
Every film has its unique journey and we're currently in production on our next documentary feature called, “CLIMBING MY EVEREST”. The budget and scale of this project are on a far larger level so the challenges on this journey take on a different shape and magnitude.
The Feature Film by Rizza on Mental Health and Snowboarding is a Must-Watch
Rizza also shared with us the upcoming project that he is working on. He cares about mental health and is trying his best to break the taboo around the same. While speaking to us, he said he is particularly excited about two of his films - the one which is directed towards his struggle with mental health and the other is about his rescue mission while snowboarding in Gulmarg. He said “ I’m very excited about our current project, ‘Climbing My Everest’ which was filmed in Nepal and Kashmir. It’s been three years in the making and we’re hoping to go into post-production this coming Autumn. The film is about my struggles with mental health and how I challenge it through my passion for nature by setting myself extreme challenges through climbing and mountain biking expeditions.” The film features powerful interviews with mental health professionals, educators, community leaders, and youth experiencing similar struggles.
Another one of his current projects that was not planned but rather borne out of a tragic accident earlier this year was called ‘Snowbound’. He said “My friends and I were snowboarding in Gulmarg when an avalanche struck and buried two of my friends in its path. The search and rescue mission and the miraculous stories of sacrifice and bonding are the subjects of this documentary which we are actively raising funds for.”
Advice For Anyone Pursuing Filmmaking
Q: Do you have any advice for other aspiring creators who would want to pursue filmmaking?
Rizza - Follow your passion. Tune out the negative voices. Our culture doesn’t embrace a career in filmmaking and the arts but we’ve each been given certain talents and skills which we must embrace. People need stories to escape to, learn from, or find themselves in. As storytellers, we aim to create, entertain, educate, and inspire and every filmmaker must do the same. I can't think of a more noble calling or occupation than this.
A Few of His Other Feature Films:
