Freedom Song

As soon as he sits down to speak with us, his ideologies as a filmmaker is established. “I don’t relate to film with conventional narratives. I feel a linear narrative is a literary device. Cinema is a more visual medium. It does not need a conventional narration,” says Jost.

Sundance,the mecca of independent film-making in the USA is hardly about independent filmmaking anymore,feels Jost. “It’s full of films which are tailor-made for Hollywood. It’s full of people who want to be in Hollywood. There is very little experimentation with the form and technique,” says Jost. Steven Spielberg,he claims,is “not a fillmaker but a businessman”. “And he is a very good business man. He knows his job and knows how to go about promoting his work,” says Jost. But he seems to have a problem or two with George Lucas ( Star Wars). “He lives in his incredibly luxurtious ranch and claims that he want to make films like us. But he never gets around to doing it. I know he will never make an independent film because he knows he will be exposed as a talentless filmmaker if makes one,” says Jost.

His exposure to Indian cinema is limited to Ray,but he has been told about Ghatak. “I have been told that I will relate to his films. I am curious,” he says.

In his career spanning more than 40 years,Jost has seen the skewed growth of Independent film-making in the USA. “I have no intellectual copyright issues. It’s perfectly fine if people download my movie from the net. My only problem is with the film is screened. Some films are meant for trhe big screen seeing them in a laptop will kill the experience,” says Jost.