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The birth of Shakti PIctures

Shakti Pictures is a visual arts film company. Shakti means divine, creative power, often associated with female energy.

Shakti Pictures was formed in October 2010 in order to produce our inaugural project, Daughters of the Curved Moon (working title), a documentary set in the Himalayas of western Nepal. The film is about a community in Jumla; a portrait of a lifestyle and culture. We are looking at women's changing role in society in rural Nepal. The inspiration came from a group of village women who attended a training programme run by a local charity, Empowering Women of Nepal and the subsequent affect it had on them.

In November 2011 we completed the first segment of shooting. We returned in March 2012, February 2013 and August 2013 for further shoots, tracking the passage of time, how things are changing in the lives of our friends and in the community in Jumla. This blog is the story of our ongoing progress.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Images of Jumla - Tatopani

goats don't quite know what to make of the camera


Lauri in her kitchen making roti


kids often carry their younger siblings around


women carrying dung out to the fields

we followed

it takes many journeys to fertilise the fields and
groups of women all help each other

this woman has the most incredible eyes - and smile


the view down the valley towards Patarasi mountain


old man enjoying his pipe


young girls beating grain


Man Bahadhur in his kitchen smoking fish

washing clothes by the river



Nisha & Sophie



Lauri giving Sophie a tika as we prepared to leave Tatopani



Friday, December 23, 2011

Images of Jumla - Ghodasin


smoking & thumb sucking




cooking up a feast at a festival



Nisha's mum, Rusa



boys playing karam - woman carrying heavy load in background




the crowd in the village watching crazy dancing at the festival




people store corn on the roof for the winter



gambling game played at festivals




Bishnumaya



Sandesh having his face washed




man running with goat (obviously)

Friday, December 9, 2011

Images of Jumla - Urthu-Chautara



Here is a selection of images from our first days in Urthu-Chautara, Jumla.


village life on the rooftops of Urthu
Chautara is the village on the other side of the river


our first morning - the village meeting on the 'high street'

Nisha, our production 'sprite' aka everything girl


everyone is always curious


the mandir (temple) at the top of the hill







Usha


Jumla's launderette


Nabina


grandparents are often looking after the kids



Khamani, Deepa and Jumli apples

These are pictures from our first week of our time in Jumla. This is and will be our main base but during our time we travelled to other regions - to film the EWN Eco-Tourism training in Tatopani (the same training that was the initial inspiration for this project), and also to revisit the women I had met at that training to see how their lives had been affected by the training.

As always, more to come...

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Back in Kathmandu

Back to the dusty bustle of Kathmandu. Sophie and I have been luxuriating in the delights of hot showers, red wine and restaurants with menus after nearly four weeks in Jumla.

Our time in that remote corner of the Himalayas was truly extraordinary. Sophie shot a lot of amazing footage. We found a deeper connection to the people over the course of our time there, becoming more embedded in the community. At times, it was hard. Not the most comfortable of living conditions, and four weeks can feel like a long time. At times, it was rewarding. When a man we were interviewing told us that meeting us and seeing the work we were doing had changed his perspective on his daughters’ potential in life, it was a magic moment.


There is so much more to say and photos to post – all coming soon. For now, I need to say goodbye to Sophie as we are leaving for the airport soon. In addition to admiring her incredible work, those of you who know me well will be impressed that she has managed to spend five weeks solidly with me, often sleeping in the same room – and we are still friends! We have shared an incredible journey and this is just the beginning of a project that is going to take us to many more places, literally in a geographical sense, as well as professionally, spiritually and emotionally to name but a few. I am sad to see her go and it also feels like a significant moment as it marks the end of this first stage of the project.


I am now looking forward - towards the next phase of reviewing (and translating) the footage and delving back into the planning stages for the next shooting session when Sophie returns in March.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Creature Comforts

Sophie and I are very excited to be settled in to our room at Amar Sandesh Guest House in Jumla Bazaar – the main town in Jumla. It seems like the height of luxury to us as we have electricity ALL night (there is even a TV) and most thrilling of all, we have an attached bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink that has running water, albeit cold. It really is quite extraordinary how novel this all seems to us after just a few weeks, but it seems like a long time since we didn’t have to get dressed and go outside (usually down some rickety stairs, hunched over so as not to hit our heads on anything) to go pee in the middle of the night. Now we are living the high life!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Update from the Overnight Charging Station

I'm back in Jumla Bazaar overnight to charge our batteries and computers and download footage. Nisha and I will pile on to the crowded local bus in the morning to make it back in time for the training at 10am.

It is about an hour down the valley, following the river. Really a beautiful journey if a bit hair-raising at times as the road is narrow and bumpy and the bus seems to only just fit in places. When encountering a vehicle coming the other way, reversing with a sheer drop to one side can be a little disconcerting if you pay too much attention.

But travelling by jeep has its own pitfalls as we discovered when we moved camp to Tatopani the other day. Aside from being 3 hours late because it broke down on the way after running out of fuel, the jeep then broke down again where it was assigned to pick us up. This time it was an oil leak. Eventually that was fixed and we were on our way. One of the perk of renting the jeep was so we could stop when we wanted along the way to shoot some scenery.

It was only when we asked to stop the first time that we realised that the brakes hadn't actually been fixed properly and the reason the boy was hanging on to the side of the jeep wasn't because it was full (aside from me, Sophie and Nisha, we also had an array of other miscellaneous passengers including the drivers brother and friend who I guess were going the same way), it was because he needed to be able to jump off the vehicle to find a rock big enough to put under the wheel to stop us.

Thankfully, when we stopped for a few hours in town on our way, they took the jeep off to be fixed and on the journey to Tatopani we were actually able to stop where we wanted even if it was on an incline. Soraj and Dhan Bhadur had come along for the ride too and were going to go back to Bazaar with the jeep after it dropped us. We arrived and said our goodbyes to both. In the morning, we noticed that the jeep was about 200 yards down the road. We later found out that they had again run out of petrol and so Soraj and Dhan Bhadhur had to walk and eventually hitch a ride on a truck taking them 3 hours to get home. For some reason (maybe a leak) it hadn't occurred to them to fill up enough for the whole days journey. I haven't actually paid for the jeep yet, but you can bet there will be some negotiating...

Saturday, November 12, 2011

DAY FIFTEEN

Every so often, I turn to Sophie and say, “You are in Jumla!”

These past two weeks have been the realisation of eighteen months planning and I am still pinching myself that we are actually here, shooting this film. We are in Jumla Bazaar which is the main town here and the only place in the district that our ‘dongle’ can pick up a net connection. We are stealing a few hours to get online and download nearly two weeks worth of emails en route from Urthu-Chautara to Tatopani where the EWN ‘Women’s Initiation in Eco-Tourism’ training commences in a couple of days.

We’ve been in Jumla for twelve days (we started shooting in Pokhara which is why we are on day fifteen) and it seems like we’ve been here forever. It feels to me like I never left. There is something about this place - a timelessness. We have spent the whole time so far based in one village where we’ve been capturing village life and doing a few interviews with the various characters that I have gotten to know this past year. Everyone here is thrilled to be a part of the project, particularly at the hope that the film might promote Jumla as the tourism economy is highly coveted.

Sophie has been doing an amazing job catching the goings-on in the village and shooting some absolutely stunning images. As soon as we arrived she was raring to get out as she immediately saw where the inspiration came from. Everywhere you look is another interesting and thought-provoking sight – it’s picturesque and cinematic at every turn.

We are both sad to be leaving Chautara. This is our base and where my (and now our) Jumla family is. It is amazing how warm and sweet everyone is, and the bonds have only deepened. But leave we must. It will be interesting for Sophie as Tatopani has a very different feel. And we will shoot the training so she will see how it all began in my head. It is also going to be challenging working from there as there is no power to charge all our equipment. We are going to have to do overnight runs back to Jumla Bazaar to recharge batteries and download footage.

These things are all part of the trials of shooting in such a remote area. We’ve already had our share of technical problems as both our super-duper top of the range 2 TB drives decided to die on us. And even this morning, the jeep we booked to take us to Tatopani doesn’t want to start. But this is Nepal, so we take it all in our stride because somehow things always work out. Ke garné?

Monday, October 31, 2011

Production - Nepali Style

This is it. We are about to embark on the first shoot - although we have already shot some interviews and landscape footage, or "B Roll" during our time in Pokhara, so technically, we have begun shooting.



We are in Nepalganj with our invaluable production assistant, Nisha. We have just travelled 11 hours by private jeep from Pokhara - a vehicle big enough to accommodate the three of us and a significant amount of baggage although not when you consider we are a mobile film crew.



Already, as with any production, we have had our share of mishaps, hopefully, getting them out the way early. One of our brand new 2 TB drives started sounding like an electronic percussion instrument. We were due to leave Pokhara at 6am the next morning and I wasn't sure we'd get to Nepalganj in time to buy more drives so it was a mad dash on the back of the bike with Sabeen (from my family at Bishnu Lodge, the guest house that is my home in Pokhara), to see if we could find an open computer store. Everything was shut but Sabeen, being a resourceful lad, went round the back of a shop I had spotted as we'd headed into town and luckily the shopkeeper was still there. Two new drives and a big dent out of the contingency pot. But ke garné?


We made it to Nepalganj which is on the southern Terai of west Nepal. Tomorrow morning, all being well, we are due to fly to Jumla. This really is it.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Jumla Production Team

Jumla is a district in the west of Nepal. This is where our film takes place.



In May 2011, I returned to Jumla to participate in another EWN (Empowering Women of Nepal) training.
After the training was complete, I planned to visit the women I had in mind for the film. Get a sense of who would be featured and put all the pieces together in advance of when we shoot in November.

I feel very blessed that my scout went as well as it did. Everything fell into place. Everyone was very receptive to participating in the project.The women and their husbands. Possibly even more key, I found my production team. Soraj Shahi is a godsend and my production manager. I had known him from last year as he works with EWN as their field officer in Jumla. He speaks good English and knows everyone and everything in Jumla. He is smart, resourceful and I couldn't have asked for more. Anyone who can persuade the next door neighbours to give us electricity and let us drill a hole through their wall to wire it into our room, understands how to make things happen.


In addition to Soraj, I found a production assistant, Nisha Budha. We met when she attended the training this year. She is bright and although her English isn't amazing (yet), she is keen to help and understands my vision. She is also female. Down the line, I am going to want to have a woman with me talking to the women about women’s issues, and Soraj is capable of many things but whichever way you look at it, he is still male.



During scout week we went all over the district, interviewing women just to get a sense of who might be comfortable on camera and to give Sophie an idea of the conditions she will be shooting in when we come back with the
tullo (big) camera.


Rooftop interview with a very sophisticated set up.


Team assembled. Our 'production office' is the back room upstairs at the guest house in Chautara (in case you were wondering). There was a wonderful camaraderie that developed in those days together and the rest of the local community very much embraced me and the project. It was an incredibly inspiring and affirming experience for me and I returned to Sophie full of ideas as well as messages of good will.


Our tickets are now booked. We arrive in Nepal at the end of October. I have a tentative schedule in place, so things are becoming more of a reality as each day passes. Soon the vision will be more than just an idea in my head.


My team in the production office and freshly baked buckwheat cake.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Postcards from Nepal

One of the 'perks' from our Indiegogo fundraising campaign was a 'postcard from Nepal'. Due to the success of our campaign, I ended up with over 60 postcards to write to our contributors.


I thought it would be a nice touch if the postcards were all of Jumla. I looked in tourist shops in Kathmandu and Pokhara but couldn't find anything. Being that Jumla is not really an established tourist destination, it isn't really surprising there are not postcards. Yet. So I decided to make my own from the photos from last year's trip. I found a shop that had handmade Nepali paper which was pretty thick, who were willing to cut me pieces to size so I ordered 80 pieces and got 80 pictures developed. I glued them all together and drew lines on them to make them look like proper postcards.

I had wondered whether I could get away with "THANK YOU FROM NEPAL!" 60 times but I decided to actually write a proper individual postcard to each person. They deserved it! And most of the people who contributed were people I know personally. I also decided to write them when I was back in Jumla so I could talk about the training, the project and my feelings generally about being back. I set myself a goal of 10 a day. I didn't exactly stick to my goal but I had written almost all of the 60 postcards by the end of the trip.


Although likely to take an even longer time to be delivered, I liked the idea of posting them from Jumla also. Saroj (my newly-appointed production manager and general godsend) and I went along to the post office to see about buying 60 stamps for postcards sent to the US and UK primarily. This was a little more difficult that I anticipated. A group of men were sitting around outside and when we said we wanted to buy stamps a couple of them got up and led us inside. We explained that I wanted postcard stamps for the US and UK at which point one of them rummaged through the drawers on the desk and pulled out a small paper booklet. One looked at it for a while, then the other and eventually Soraj took over, trying to find US, UK, America, England or anything that might give us an indication of which band each country was in so we could buy the appropriate stamps. Eventually Soraj found it! Rs 25 for Great Britain and Rs 30 United States. Brilliant. The only trouble was that the only stamps they had were Rs 5 and Rs 10 and the stamps were so big they covered half the address as the cards would need three each. Why I thought they would have postcard stamps in Jumla when they don't have postcards is beyond me!


They would have to be posted from Pokhara. At least they were more likely to arrive if I posted them from there. Shyam and Savyata, my Pokhara family at Bishnu Lodge, helped me stick the single stamps we bought from the Pokhara post office over chiya (tea) and ladoo (my fave Indian sweet which I bought when we went into town to buy the stamps).

And that was it! Job done. As it turned out, it took over a month for them to arrive, but I was expecting that. The postmark on the ones I have seen is about a week later than they were actually posted.

What I wasn't expecting was the fact that is seems most people can't read my writing! One of my more cynical friends in LA said, "You should have just written 'thank you'".

But it is the thought (and effort) that counts, right?

Sunday, May 15, 2011

the final and most important stage of this journey has begun...

I am back in Jumla now. It feels good to be here again.

The training starts tomorrow and this year it is in the village of Urthu about a three hour walk from the district town where the training was last year. (You can read my post about it from last year here).

After and probably during the training I'll be figuring out as much as I can about how things will work when we come back in the autumn to shoot. I am very excited to see the women again, as the village we are going to, Urthu, is home to quite a few of the ladies I taught last year and will likely be featured in the film. In fact, two of the ladies showed up here in town to greet us. It was so wonderful to see them! We will all be walking back to the village together when they have finished their shopping in the bazaar. They will no doubt put me to shame at my level of fitness as we trek to their home.

Nonetheless, I am very excited to be going to the village and spending this time with them all. This is truly the beginning of the most important stage of the planning for this film as I will be looking at all the logistics of how we are going to work the shoot (power considerations, distances between villages, willingness of villagers etc), figuring out where and who we will focus and enlisting the help of who will be our 'crew'.

This is really it! I am here!

Monday, April 25, 2011

the campaign is over but you can still DONATE!!!

Following the success of the campaign, we have had quite a few people wanting to donate who hadn't quite got around to it before the deadline... but fear not!

We now have a DONATE but up on our website for those of you who still want to make a contribution.

And a big thank you those of you who already have. We will still honour all the perks that we were offering during the campaign.

I have A LOT of postcards to write... xxx

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Indiegogo campaign finished - next stop Pokhara!

The Indiegogo campaign is now finished and we raised $10,033! Even with a little help from our previously committed donors the campaign itself gathered over $7500!

It has been an incredible fund-raising campaign. Aside from reaching our goal, we also received so much encouraging and heart-warming support in the form of promotion and positive feedback, energy and love.

Tomorrow I move to Pokhara to start the next phase of this journey. I will be volunteering with EWN (Empowering Women of Nepal), as well as starting to iron out the logistics of our shooting in autumn. I will be going back to Jumla in May.

More news as it unfolds...

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Nearly...at $5000!

As we move into the last month of the campaign, contributions are starting to pick up and another $500 has just helped push us closer to the halfway mark!

We have 18 days to go, so as they say in Nepal, 'heraun ke huncha' (let's see what happens).

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Kathmandu!

We are now in the last month of the campaign and I write from Kathmandu where I have been for the past week. It is great to be here and getting a feel for the city, starting my Nepali classes and meeting a lot of amazing people who are doing very cool work here.

All of this experience for me is building the foundations for a deeper understanding of the this beautiful country and how different projects are making a difference.

The fundraising campain is in its last month. We are nearly at $4000 - still a long way from our goal but things are picking up as the last minute contributors get around to clicking the buttton!
Let's see what the final weeks bring!

Friday, January 28, 2011

The train has left the station...

We've already gotten off to a very positive start less than 24 hours into the campaign with 5 donations totally $775! Thanks to our inaugurating donors for setting the pace.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Launched!

We are excited to announce the launch of our IndieGoGo campaign - http://www.indiegogo.com/Daughters-of-the-Curved-Moon

We have 66 days to raise $9999!

Or $9949 as we had our first donation already - thanks Dad!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Secured fiscal sponsor!

It's been all quiet on the front as we have been laying the necessary foundations to bring this project to fruition.

But it's all go now! We are proud to announce that we now have a fiscal sponsor, From the Heart Productions. We are very excited to be working with Carole Dean who is an incredibly well respected member of the documentary and film community.

So let those tax deductible donations start flowing....