The 9th edition of Qumra, which took place physically after three years lost to the pandemic, was back to being the platform-with-purpose it was intended to be: bringing together professionals from around the world for a six-day curated event which includes master-classes, film screenings, industry meetings, and overseeing talent incubation and mentorship programmes. The event (March 10-15), organised under the aegis of the Doha Film Institute, is also a chance for local filmmakers chosen to meet and learn from global masters, right from the inception stage of their projects to when their films are made, the best way of being supported from script to screen. This year, the Qumra ‘masters’ included veteran directors Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin, You Were Never Really Here), Michael Winterbottom (The Mighty Heart, The Road To Guantanamo, Welcome To Sarajevo), Oscar-winner producer David Parfitt (The Father, Shakespeare In Love, My Week With Marilyn), Oscar-and-BAFTA winner screenwriter Christopher Hampton (The Father, Atonement) and multiple Oscar-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West (Dune, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button). How about an Indian ‘master’? Soon, smiles the elegant Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute. A promise that needs keeping. After their absorbing sessions, The Indian Express spoke to Lynne Ramsay and Michael Winterbottom, both very different filmmakers with singular ways of looking at the world, with the latter having shot several of his films in India. Excerpts from the exclusive interviews. Lynne Ramsay Do you gravitate towards damaged people? (referring to the conflicted-mother-and-psychotic-son duo, played by Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller in Ramsay’s terrific, terrifying We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)) Maybe we are all damaged people (laughs). I think this is a traumatising time, and I think these kinds of characters are like chinks of light where you see the world through the same prism. How important is it for you to know your actors well? You said Joaquin Phoenix (who plays a brutal mercenary in You Were Never Really Here, 2017) is like a brother, and you’re very close to Tilda Swinton. It’s nice to have this band of people together, it becomes like family, especially if you’re doing something challenging like ‘Kevin..’ Someone like Tilda is willing to go there, and I love building it all together. Kevin isn’t intrinsically evil, and the mother isn’t intrinsically violent, yet there’s a feeling of violence in the film. So how did you get that balance? Did you bring your own experience of being a mother to the film? I made Kevin.. before I became a mother (laughs). I don’t believe in black and white, good and evil. There’s obviously a lot more complexity in their relationship. That’s why it’s good to get the actors together to see their chemistry. It’s attraction and repulsion, a really complex family dynamic. There are no easy answers. I was very struck by the word you used (in the session), about Tilda’s character being an absent mother. Is Kevin reacting to that absence? She’s asking herself those questions. The guilt of a mother is really endless, the freedom that she’s given up, and the resentment that she has towards him, how she sees her own failures. That’s not the reason Kevin becomes Kevin, but she’s wondering. The world of filmmaking is becoming Marvelized, one superhero after another. Do you see it as the death of imagination? How does someone like you respond to this world? That’s a big question (laughs). People love those worlds, but when they become homogenized, and it's the only way to get money and make a movie, it’s a problem. They (superhero films) can also give new filmmakers a chance to be inventive. But you also don’t want the world to become small and one thing. It’s always been that back-and-forth between, you know, commercial movies and original. And you are among the original ones… I hope that still has a place that those voices can still be heard. Michael Winterbottom In your talk, you said India is a difficult place to shoot in. I was talking about people looking at the camera. We’ve filmed in different places in India, and there’s a similar problem in a lot of places, especially in Rajasthan. As soon as you are there, suddenly there’s a crowd. So we have to have a second camera unit, and someone pretending to be shooting there ( laughs). But obviously, it’s only my personal experience. I love India, so it’s all good. In The Mighty Heart ( 2007), was Irrfan the first one that came to your mind for the role of Captain (the investigating officer, working on the case of the slain journalist Daniel Pearl). Yes, I’m pretty sure he was the only one we talked to. And he did such a great job, he was such a great actor. He was lovely. He was the first Indian actor who successfully and consistently crossed over. Do you remember the shoot? It’s now many years but I do remember it was a lovely group of people, all working together in that one room, and I’m so glad we persuaded him to work with us, because he was nervous about acting in English, at the time. How was the experience of working with Frieda Pinto and Riz Ahmed in Trishna (2012), your adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess. Didn’t you discover Riz? It was wonderful. We found the right family in Rajasthan, and sort of inserted Frieda into it, and she worked very hard. I’m pretty sure that Road To Guantanamo (one of Winterbottom’s acclaimed films, 2006) was Riz’s first feature. He’s now become a torchbearer for Asia, and speaks up about being Muslim, and he’s the right actor to make that whole thing about diversity more than a catchphrase. When I worked with Riz, he wasn’t famous. For me it’s about choosing the right person, whether that person is a star like Angelina Jolie, or someone who’s never acted before, like Riz. He’s now a spokesperson for his generation, but he has to be good. It doesn’t matter what your background is, or what you’re saying about representation, if you’re not. The best thing about Riz is that he’s good. And how was it working with Dev Patel and Radhika Apte in The Wedding Guest? (a kidnap drama set in Rajasthan and Mumbai, 2018) I really loved working with both of them. They have different backgrounds, obviously. Dev is very British in a lot of ways, he grew up in Britain. I remember my kids loving him in Skins (UK TV series, 2007), and now he’s a big international star. And Radhika now lives in London a lot of the time. They were both very good. You’re lucky you have so many good actors in India. Do you watch any Indian films? Have you seen RRR? It just won an Oscar for the best song. I don’t think you should judge the Indian film industry by what people in America think about it. The Indian film industry is huge, you should judge it by what people in Mumbai or Tamil Nadu think about it—it’s bad enough for us in England, but we are a small country. You shouldn’t worry about what America thinks of your films. America should worry about what you think of their films. As for RRR, I have an 11-year-old boy and he loved it. I started watching it with him, and I haven’t seen all of it. And what did you think of it? Well, action films are not really my thing (laughs).
