Cinema as a Personal Quest - A Conversation with Independent Filmmaker Amit Dutta

In the interview, Amit Dutta discusses the struggles faced by independent filmmakers in India in terms of financing, distribution, and exhibition. With a candid and reflective approach, the interview offers a unique perspective on the art of filmmaking and the creative process behind it.

- P.K SURENDRAN

How independent are our independent films? Though digital democratised filmmaking, the independent filmmakers are struggling to get finance. If they somehow manage funds, distribution and exhibition are next hurdles. For most of them, the only source is film festivals or OTT platforms. This is the fate of minorities caught in the web of mainstream cinema.

Amit Dutta's case is the tragedy of an independent filmmaker in a country consumed by commercial and so-called art cinema. One cannot classify his films as árt' cinema in the conventional sense. It goes far beyond the term and are very rare in the field of art films. He explores and expands the possibilities of cinematography. His films are rooted in Indian art history, aesthetics, philosophy, literature and narrative traditions. As Srikant Srinivasan, who has written a book on Amit Dutta writes "Dutta's cinema is not an alternative mainstream, a vision of film culture that must be. It is, instead, the incarnation of a personal quest, a lifelong project of research and self-cultivation". In the age of instant consumption, audience may find Dutta's films very complex and not easily comprehensible.

Dutta has made around 40 films, including short and feature length films. These are small budget films made by FTII, Eberhard Fisher, Films Division, PSBT, Museum of Art and Photography, Art 1st Foundation, etc. and some are self-produced. None of these films are released commercially in the country. These are shown in major film festivals and museum programs. Even in Kerala, the most cinema-literate State, his films are not discussed the way it should.