In advance of BFF’s 2020 Online Festival, we will be sharing exclusive interviews with this year’s filmmakers. Get to know their films, their inspirations, and their advice to fellow emerging filmmakers. Check out our interview with Tanvi Chowdhary, director of BINIMOY.
Born and raised in Calcutta, Tanvi Chowdhary earned her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Film from the Srishti School of Art and Design in Bangalore, India. She has won various awards for her audio-visual and photographic works. She has worked with a renowned wedding film company, The Wedding Filmer, and has also worked internationally with Los Angeles based production house, Veyra. She seeks to explore and tell stories about human dynamics, identity and gender through her personal artwork.
Congratulations on your 2020 BFF film selection! Can you tell us a bit about your film?
Thank you so very much for taking our little film in! Binimoy is a portrait of a young married couple in contemporary Bengal, struggling with finances and the responsibilities that a running household brings with it. Their first anniversary comes as a means for them to indulge in expressing their love for one another, and the way they do it, transcends all rational thought.
What inspired you to tell this story?
I am of Indian origin, living in a huge joint family amongst several aunts and uncles and in the years of growing up, I rarely remember them or even my parents openly showing affection to one another. They were facing their own challenges, even in the early years of their marriages. I wonder what it would be like were they to have the privacy of a small apartment; having responsibilities only towards themselves and each other, while still trying to make a living in a fast, unforgiving metropolitan city. I’ve come to wonder whether the truest test of love is the routine and the mundane. And I think the characters of my film, and me, explore the nature of love when it has surpassed this test. This is possibly what made me want to tell this story, especially in the Indian context.
Still from Binimoy
When did you first discover the classic O. Henry story “The Gift of the Magi” and why do you think the lesson at the heart of that story is still relevant today?
I think I first read the story when I was in the sixth grade and I still remember it playing out in my mind like a film. It’s possibly the way O’ Henry narrates it. But little me was really touched and it became a beloved tale, one that I’d remember for years after.
What’s the core message that you wanted to convey to your audience through this film?
I’d hope that the film leaves you with the message that love, when felt with honesty, transcends the material, the rational and the tangible. That it is ridiculous and deserving of utmost respect, all at once.
Still from Binimoy
What’s next for you?
I just finished the first draft of my first feature film script, and I’m in the process of refining it and submitting it for grants. I’m currently editing two shorts that I wrote and co-directed with my brother last year, and hoping to apply for further studies in screenwriting soon.
What advice would you give to an emerging filmmaker just starting out?
This one time I was told that you have to make some bad films before you make a good one and I still stand by it. It’s always a step up, it’s always learning and there’s no better learning than being dissatisfied with your own work. Expose yourself to all kinds of films, made in different times by different people, language no bar. And finally, that you really don’t need money or fancy equipment to make a film. Just honesty, wonder and will.
Care to share any films you’re inspired by, that our community should check out during this quarantine?
I don’t think I’ve watched nearly as many film as I’d like to but these are my classic favourites and supremely inspiring: Mahanagar by Satyajit Ray, In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar Wai and The Double Life of Veronique by Krzysztof Kieślowski.
Catch BINIMOY as part of BFF’s 2020 Online Festival, with a special live-streamed Q&A with Tanvi on Saturday June 27th. Join us June 25 - 28 for screenings, virtual Q&As, panel discussions and more! Get Tickets Today.