Interview with Ranjit S. Ruprai & Omar Ahmed from the new Boutique Blu-ray Label, The Cloud Door!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast Network.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello there, and welcome back to the disc connected here
with Omar and Ranjeet, who are the founders behind a
company that I sincerely hope everybody hears a lot more
about for this year. That is the cloud Door. Gentlemen,
thanks for making time for this.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hey, thanks for having us.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
Yeah, thank you for having us.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
The first thing that we should do is define what
the cloud Door is, and it is an upcoming boutique
company that is releasing a kickstarter for everybody to donate to. Omar,
can you share where the name of the cloud Door
came from?

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah, so the name itself came from comes from a
short money call film. It's kind of expired until film,
which actually Rinji did a screening of the cloud Door
at was it? Was it in Stuttgard was it? Or Frankfurt?

Speaker 3 (01:10):
It was the it was the year before last. I
did one in London at the Garden Cinema, which is
a new cinema in Covent Garden, and you know we
did we did one together in Frankfort as well.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yeah, So the the idea was I think we've always
been big fans of kind of alternative Indian cinema, and
money called is kind of like so important and critical too,
kind of the experimental, avant guarde side of kind of
of Indian cinema. So it's a very kind we felt
it was a very kind of apt title as well,

(01:42):
very catchy as well, and kind of fitted into kind
of our kind of ethos and spirit or kind of
what we want to do with the label is.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
That we do.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
We're we are interested in genre films at the same time,
but we're also very much kind of focused on kind
of independ independent of alternative, esoteric mar films that are
out there which often don't get you know, a platform
and get don't get seen by kind of film audiences
and you know and collectors as well. So it kind

(02:11):
of came from our kind of appreciation, understanding and love
of kind of money goals kind of work.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Really, that's I mean, it's it's a noble mission. It's
something that is vastly underserved across many of these boutique labels. Rogie,
you guys are focusing on South Asian cinema, primarily Indian cinema. Obviously,
there there's a very big hole missing in that market.
But one one question I'd love to hear is why

(02:38):
has that classically been so underserved or difficult to license
for For many of these other companies.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
It's it's really falling away as a market. I mean,
growing up in the UK in the eighties, the actual
South Asian communities and in fact even other immigrant communities.
So I'm from the Midlands, you're from the North, and
there's there's sort of you know, decades old South Asian
immigrant communities and in those areas in the UK, but

(03:07):
also the Chinese community in Liverpool, the Turkish community in
Berlin and parts of Germany were at the forefront of
the VHS home video market in the eighties. They set
up their own stores and as well as renting out
the sort of the latest blockbusters, they also imported a
lot of stuff from there from their home countries. So
so I grew up you know, weekly visits, multiple weeklysits

(03:32):
to the local VHS store renting a whole load of
not only latest releases, but you know, old movies from
the from the forties and fifties as well as the latest,
sort of the latest US blockbuster that was available on
video as well. So I think there's always been. There's
always been a market in terms of people wanted to

(03:53):
watch this stuff. What's really changed over the last few
years is I've noticed whenever I visit India in the past,
you know, even up until maybe about ten years ago,
you could pick up really good quality like DVDs of
your classic favorites and really cheaply and they were very
well made, and they had English subtitles, and you know,

(04:14):
there were decent copies, and that has pretty much disappeared,
I would say, in the last ten years. The only
way you can get your hands on this is usually
sort of bootleg copies from local grocery stores and mobile
phone stores where it's sort of three films to a DVD,
not even a DVD, like a VCD, like really low

(04:34):
res sort of YouTube Brits. Because no one's interested in
this stuff. It's all it's all available on streaming, you know,
all the major streamers have sort of entered the South
Ocean market now and often the stuff, particularly I think
during the pandemic went straight to straight to streaming effectively. However,

(04:56):
you know, there is a I think, what surprise owned
by myself, We just started teasing the idea of even
doing this is there's a huge there's a huge sort
of demand for this regardless. You know, I'd love to
get a lot of these films on home video and
watch them. I'd love to have all the extras. I'd
love to have the lovely artwork. And I suppose why

(05:20):
is it still underserved now? I think there's also a
sort of opacity. I would say it's sort of mysteriousness
about how do you license this stuff and how you
source this stuff that own One and I have sort
of tried to solve in our various ways as curators,
and so that's given us the network to be able
to sort of crack that a little bit, crack that open,

(05:43):
not just for ourselves, but for other curators, for venues,
for maybe other labels as well. So I think I
think it's a combination of that sort of market completely
changing over the last ten years, but also for those
people who are interested just having no idea how you
find these films and how you're licensed them.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, it's been really interesting to see people react to
some of the major releases, especially from that part of
the world, that have hit, like Mona Macabreau in the
in the US that put out the Bollywood horror box
set and seeing the people literally like fall in love
with the cinema as they finally get to watch through
the films. What has really made me excited about this

(06:24):
is you both seem uniquely qualified to tackle this Omar.
What kind of backgrounds do you guys have that has
led to the professional ability to be able to tackle
something as grand as this.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah, I think just to go back to what Rinji
they're saying, I just kind of echoey sentiments about kind
of I think what's happened in India is that the
kind of the home video kind of market has collapsed.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
There's kind of void ground. It's kind of like an abyss.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
And a lot of films, I mean, Netflix, Amazon Prime,
all these kind of streaming sites have an important role
to play. But unfortunately, I think even though they do
hoover up a lot of the independent kind of films
and put them on their kind of platform, it can
be sometimes difficult to even find those films if you

(07:15):
want to kind of watch them as well. So there's
challenges there with kind of the algorithm, which had been
talked about endlessly by many different kind of people, which
I think is still the case but I think now,
I think as curators, I think what we discovered is
that it's it is difficult to find those films a license.

(07:37):
But I think once you kind of get into that
world and start speaking to people and banging on doors,
it is really kind of critical. But kind of going
back to what you just said about kind of my background.
So my background is very much similar to Kin and
Jeets in terms of like film curation and programming. I
initially started as a teacher, so I was I was

(07:58):
teaching film media for fifteen years at six to one college,
teaching kind of filmmaking, storyboarding, film analysis. So I did
that fifteen years.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
I left.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
And then I went to University of Manchester did a PhD.
So I got funded by the Arts Humanities Research Council to.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
Do a PhD.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
And my interest was very much in parallel cinema, Indian
parallel cinema, so independent kind of film movement, the first
one reading in India and South Asia, postcolonial one in
the late sixties early seventies. So I kind of researched that.
So I spent a bit of time in academia. I
left that, I mean in a kind of a different

(08:42):
role now doing something completely different to kind of film,
but the whole kind of film kind of fixation and
obsession and passion was always in the background. It is something
I was always kind of doing on a constant basis.
So in twenty seventeen, I founded one of kind of
North's first regular kind of seasons on independent kind of films,

(09:06):
which is based at home in Manchester, which is one
of the Northwest kind of like most important kind of
cultural kind of spaces for showing independent films. So I
found it a season called Not Just Bollywood. So we
each year we've been trying to show a slate of
different kind of alternative independent films to audiences. Do q

(09:27):
and as do other work around it introductions, so try
to kind of broadened kind of audiences kind of ideas
of what Indian cinema and what South Asian cinema is
to them, because I think it's still looked at through
the prism of kind of Bollywood and the way in
which kind of film culture often kind of represents and

(09:47):
prioritizes kind of the mainstream films is often at the
expense of kind.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
Of the you know, the.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
The more interesting kind of films that often fall to
the wayside and no one kind of really engages with.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
So I think.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
I've always been an avid collector myself in terms of
Blu rays and DVDs as well and vhs. Remember the
first VHS I bought was I think, I think with
Batman and die Hard from.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
The local.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Either it was Boots or wool Worst and remember, you know,
it started very early, that kind of relationship with physical
and I think it's for me, it's and I think
for un Cheeth as well. It's been really really fundamental
to kind of keeping a lot of these films alive
and keeping them going because streaming is one thing, but

(10:36):
it can't replicate what physical media does because it gives
you the actual quality of the film. It gives you
all those special features.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
It's like vinyl.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
You pick up a piece of vinyl, you pick up
the album, you immerse yourself in that whole experience. You're
reading the notes, that kind of you're listening to the
tracks one by one, you're not skipping when you are
onlike you know on Spotify and stuff. So I've always
loved that kind of culture and the investment and the
time that goes into producing all these Blu rays. So

(11:07):
I'd always want to look at them and go, wow,
this is it's incredible. Why isn't there something like this
for South Asian cinema. There should be because it's such
a huge kind of you know, often it's often been
a it still is a very kind of gap in
the market, really so, and I always like would tweet
about write about it, and Mi Gright would be why

(11:28):
criter you and why you're releasing all these you know,
Indian films, saying kind of like arrow, and I think
it was a Master of Cinema Eureka. There were moments
where those boutique labels have flirted with the idea of
kind of releasing Indian films, but they've often gone down
the root of a strategic ray films, which is, you know,

(11:52):
the classic kind of default position, just release a ray
film and will be okay. And I think when I
spoke with remembers people with Nick Wrigley, who I think
was involved with Masters of Cinema Eureka initially I think
he still think he works an Indicator and powerhouse and
stuff now and he I said to him, look, why

(12:12):
you only released that one ray film, which was Abijahn
and it was on DVD and said, come on, let's
do some more. There's so much stuff out there you
could release. And I remember the comments coming back with
that there's just not an appetite there. Audiences don't want
to buy these films. But this was admittedly, I think
ten years ago, so it was like a decade ago.

(12:34):
But I think I think there is a significant audience
out there who would want to purchase, you know, South
Asian Indian films on Blu Ray have them on their
shelf in the way in which you know, Criteria Arrow
have kind of given them these releases. So yeah, I
think i'd say I'm and I'd say we're pretty qualified

(12:58):
to kind of do this project.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
What about you, Renjie, what's your background? Like they got
you here And.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
I'd come into the film work pretty late in life,
so I'm a businessman as my day job and that's
what pays the bills. But actually, I think this is
probably the first project where it sort of covers all
the bases in terms of my experience because we're setting
up a new business effectively, So I've got all that background.
I know what to do. I know how to set
up a limited company, I know how to get an
account and all that sort of stuff. Done it before

(13:27):
plenty of times. But on the film side, it's something
I got involved with it really as a supporter to
begin with about sort of eight nine years ago, just
attending all of the different dy film clubs and independent
venues and film fests in London. There was a real
sort of renaissance of that you know in a while back,
which is continuing today thankfully, and just like giving them

(13:50):
moral support and creating social media account and like promote
all of these great things that are happening. And as
a sort of as a punter as an audience member,
I also sort of picked up on you know, what
went well and what didn't go well, and you know
what I was looking for in a really good created event.
And as part of that, I you know, I got
invited to do some myself as well, because just sort

(14:12):
of talking to people involved in that world and supporting
behind the scenes, I suppose sort of people picked up
on the fact that I that I love cinema myself
and all forms of it as well, and we're interested
in my choices and in putting them on in venues
and talking about them and doing all the sort of
extras as well. So I started out as a film

(14:34):
creator screening Octopusy the Bond film under a railway arch
in East London in like a real sort of hipster
area of like upcoming East London. And it was it
was a proper hipster venue because by day it was
a vinyl shop and they also had like a pop
up restaurant and then during the evening that they'd clear

(14:55):
away all the all the crates and there'd be there'd
be a set of steps bricks steps, so people would
just sit on and the screen would come down and
they're just put the films and films in the evening.
Unfortunately they lost their license, but it was while that
then you lasted it. It was quite a cool place and
the guy who was like inviting guest curators there was

(15:16):
there was a chap who used to run a sci
fi theater in London which was a great little film
club when it lasted. They used to do used to
do a different sci fi film every month and some
real like you know, cult films and rarities in their
in their program. But what they would also do is
they would get an artist to do a special especially

(15:36):
commission poster and postcard for it, and they would get
a scientist related to the topic of the film to
do a little talk and it was great, and yeah,
shout out to the Graham at Sci Fi Theater wherever
he is. And it was a great little film club.
They started off in the back of a pub and
then they and then they sort of branched out to

(15:58):
actual cinemas and so he invited so, look, there's an
independent venue here. They're sort of pretty much open, so
you're doing whatever you want. And I thought, okay, well,
out of all of the things that are probably never
going to get invited to do, I'm going to do
something called turban Scene on Screen, where I did a
whole monthly set of screenings about films where there was

(16:20):
sort of notable leading or sort of side characters that
wore turbans and particularly sort of mable seeks. And particularly
for the first three or four films films that resonated
with me growing up, so Octopusy, The English Patient, and

(16:43):
The Life Aquatic, the Wes Anderson film. So those are
the first three films, and then as I sort of
got into putting on the events, I did everything around
it as well, so that I've managed to get Kabir Beeddy,
the guy who plays the henchmen in octopusy to Skypitt
from India and actually introduce the film. And that was
a coup from my very first screening and it sort

(17:04):
of went on from that. You know, I had live
music for the Wes Anderson film. I managed to find
a British singer songwriter who knew Portuguese and who could
sing the David Bowie songs in Portuguese like just like
in the film, and we had a little concert for
thirty minutes before the screening with the English patient. I
managed to find a British South Asian filmmaker had done

(17:27):
a documentary about seeks who served in World War Two,
and so we've got a little bit of education to
go with the film, to say, actually, you know this
is this is a real thing, this is you know,
this is a great sort of form of representation. So
what started off as a sort of bit of fun
on the side, so slowly as the screenings developed and

(17:49):
I started doing midnight double bills, I started sort of
branching out and all sorts of you know, all sorts
of crazy films that I love to watch and share
with other people. Is over the years, I sort of
somehow accidentally became an expert at it. So all the
stuff that I thought was like super super difficult because
I'm nobody who just doesn't know how to do this
stuff apparently was super difficult for everyone. And just by

(18:13):
doing it year after year, I've sort of somehow, somehow
sort of cracked it. And then and and I try
and share that with as many people as I can,
because I think, I think the more people who are
able to do this, the better for the film ecosystem.
So I get invited every year to talk to film

(18:34):
creation students at the National Film Television School here in
the UK, and I try to mentor as many sort
of up and coming film creators as I can in
terms of just linking them up with this is the
contact you need if you if you need to license
a film, and this archive or this is a contact
for a venue if you if you're thinking of doing
your program there. Because I think the other aspects as

(18:57):
to my background and why I love doing what I
do is I think London compared to other European cities
and certainly the big US cities, so like New York,
LA and then Paris, Rome, Milan as Urich. It just
doesn't have It doesn't have the amount of sort of

(19:22):
repertory film going that you'd expect for the size of population.
It has a lot, there's a lot going on, and
there are some fantastic venues here, but you just look.
You just look at some of these other cities and
you visit them and you think, this is the sort
of if you scale it up to London, we're nowhere
near what's happening in what's happening in New York comparis,

(19:43):
and so I think, I think in that void of
big cinemas or institutional film institutes and the like sort
of doing this stuff, it's the DIY community. It's the
it's the film club putting on a DVD in their
local library or church hall. Are sort of filling that gap.
And I'm sort of glad to be part of that community.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
Really, that is incredible. I mean, you've been curating supplements
for releases for a long time. Basically it sounds like
in a live fashion, which is immense. One thing that
makes this whole you know, home video interesting and needed
in twenty twenty five more than anything, I think, is
those contextual extras that you literally already doing. So who

(20:26):
are some of the companies that have been inspiring you,
guys that you're going to be trying to live up
to some of these supplements when you release your films.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
Well, if I can just say a shout out to
some of the anonymous companies first, because as a film creator,
if it wasn't for so For example, I know I
screamed I screened like an old French black and white film.
If it wasn't for the fact that a Korean distributor
had put that in DVD, I wouldn't have been able
to get a decent copy of it. So it's similar

(20:55):
to I think I've got it near me, just give
me a moment. I'm screening this film later in the year.
It's a British film called Our Mother's House with Dirt Bogart. Now,
I've managed to license this from from major sort of
licensing firm, but you can't get hold of it anywhere.
So it's only because there's this archive collection DVD of
it that I'm able to screen it at all. And

(21:16):
I'm not I'm not sort of a format snob. If
if I have to screen it on on some nineties
DVD I will. It's better than not screening it at all.
Quite frankly, I don't want to be sort of tied
down to just what's what's coming out the latest restoration circuit.
Although I am thankful for all the sort of new
restorations that are coming out, I don't want to just
be sort of bound to that. So a shout out

(21:38):
to all those nineties DVD producers and two thousands that
that and their stuff is still circulating on eBay. And
if it wasn't for them, quite a few of my
screenings just wouldn't have gone ahead. In fact, even the screening,
even the screening of the cloud Door, which our label
is named after. If it wasn't for the German producer
who had created who would commission money called to make

(22:00):
that unusual erotic short film for his compilation DVD called
Erotic Tales Volume one that I think was published in
the nineties of which I have a copy, You wouldn't
have been able to even see that film because you
can't get it hold of it any other way. There
is no there is no high definition transfer of that.

(22:23):
So shout all the anonymous labels first, and then in
terms of these days, I mean I'm a big fan
of what Vinegar Syndrome is doing in the US. I mean,
there's just if I could affought to import everything, I would,
but I have a sort of pick and choose, I
think out of their sort of sub labels or partner labels.
I really love what Canadian International Pictures are doing, and

(22:46):
I love the I love the packaging of it as well.
They have they pick really good artists, they have really
good they have really good extras on there, and they
are sort of genuinely films that no one else would
otherwise release, so that they're you know, there may be
limited editions, but I think those actual those actual artifacts

(23:07):
will live on for decades as a way of curators
being able to access that material in a good format
enough to potentially screen. You know, in the UK we
have Radiance Films that was doing a cracking amount in
terms of just getting things out there and making things available.
Oh mile, hangover to you. You've you've you're a big collector.
You're a much bigger collector than I am.

Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah, no, I think you mentioned who do you just Radiance? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (23:32):
I think I think the usual source of bets really
is kind of like things labels like Criterion Collection Arrow.
I think Second Side of doing some great stuff as well.
I think in terms of where we're headed in terms
of like South Asian Indian kind of cinema, I think

(23:54):
Second Run has been really important in the work that they.

Speaker 4 (23:59):
In the UK.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
So Meley Modi who kind of founded and set Second
Run and still going, and they still release a lot
of really important Eastern European kind of films, but they've
also had a concerted effort. I think they've They've not
been I think they've done brilliantly to release whatever they

(24:20):
can in terms of the South Asian film, so I
think a couple of films from a global Krishna and
I think they've done also just recently one that I've
kind of written the essay for the book that I've forgot,
the film is Now You Issue Always has been released,
which is a money poor moneypuri film. And also most

(24:43):
recently as well, they did the Governed and Arab Indian
film The Tent, which has also been released by them.
So I think Criterion Arrow, Second Run are really important.
So a lot of those kind of labels, but I
think those labels have been consistently brilliant in terms of

(25:05):
their authoring of their kind of discs, in terms of
their booklets, artwork as well. I think those are the
things we want to kind of aspire to and kind
have been paying very very kind of close attention to
as well. I think it's a growing, growing market though.
I think every time I kind of look and go online,

(25:26):
I'm seeing a new kind of label emerging. I think
a twenty four are putting out their own stuff now,
one which is like a beautifully kind of package, and
kind of the love and care and attention that kind
of goes into all of this is really something that
I think we want to kind of aspire to and
hopefully we can.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
The fact that you guys are listing details on your
Kickstarter page that are transparent and things that matter to
people that are buying these, like authoring by Fidelity in Motion,
you can tell that you're immersed in this world. You
know what you're doing. What were when you were setting
out to make decisions on these what were some of

(26:05):
the just really obvious this is absolutely what we have
to have on every single release type of decisions.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
So when we were really starting out, we knew nothing
quite friendly, So so sort of the origin story would be.
I think was your tweet you posted online basically saying, hey,
you've what if I started a label foundation cinema and
like you've got a huge response. Well, one of the

(26:33):
responses was me like messaging you saying cut me in
on this. I've been thinking about this for years. Let's
let's do it. And but we literally knew nothing. I mean,
we had contacts, we were you know, we we bought
home video. We were we were users, you know, we
were we were customers. We we knew about the licensing

(26:56):
angle from from screening this stuff. And I suppose we've
got our film, not in terms of you know, we
know which films potentially would resonate in terms of the
ones that we would like to release, but we we
literally knew nothing about like how do you actually create
a blu ray? Like what are the steps? And we
had to pee, we had to sort of piece it

(27:17):
together jigsaw piece by jigsaw piece over about it took
us a year, didn't it omar? I'd say, you know, okay,
you've got old you've got to author it. You've got
to get the materials, you've got to get this, you've
got to get that or get the packaging, the manufacturer
is a different company. There might be a broker between
you and a manufacturer, you know, with all of this stuff.
And you know, the people in our network were like

(27:38):
really really helpful, and I think I think it's been
probably down to that original point in terms of everyone
wanted something to happen in the space, the South Asian space.
So everyone has been really willing us to make this work.
And because of that, they've been super generous with their
with their contact books, with their advice, with their tips.

(28:01):
You know, either other labels, for example, or people in
the world who are collectors, who tell us from a
customer perspectively, what do you look for when you buy
a when you buy a bouret, what will you actually
what do you sort of care about in particular? And
they tended to be the same things that we care about,
So that's sort of okay, We're on the right track then.

(28:23):
And I suppose you know, someone and myself have have
our sort of particular strengths. You know, Omar's great at
the copy you know, he's written, he's written a book
about parallel cinema. He can he can he can be
an expert on all sorts of releases, and I suppose
my background in terms of the event side, branding, packaging,

(28:45):
commissioning artists. You know, I was able to go out
to my network in terms of, you know, can you
help us with the logo, can you help us with
with you know, a custom slipcover and all that sort
of stuff. So I think between the two of us
and our sort of contact books and the generosity of
people we knew, we we sort of pieced it together
bit by bit, and I suppose what do we care

(29:07):
about and why does that come out on the Kickstarter?
Is what we want to do and this is this
is aligned with my programming as well, is we want
to sort of break South Asian cinema out of a
sort of ghetto. Basically, we don't want people to see
it as it's this niche thing, right, It's it's just

(29:27):
a genre. It isn't if you if you look at it,
it's it's it's a thousand genres. It's it's it's it's expansive,
it's and we aspire as a label to do, you know,
the latest release versus something from the nineteen forties, a
mainstream national cinema to an obscure, experimental film, you know,

(29:49):
documentaries as well as fiction. We don't want to sort of,
you know, tire ourselves to a particular subpart of South
Asian cinema, and therefore we want, we want those picks
to be to be published in a way that is
seen as devoting the same sort of love, care and

(30:11):
attention that those types of cinemas would receive if they
were an Italian film, or a Japanese film or a
Hollywood film. Therefore, it's not just the picking of the film,
it's the way that we're presenting it. And therefore we
want the custom artwork. We want the slip cover, we
want the scnavo case that sort of you know, has
a full frame sort of artwork on it. We want

(30:32):
the extras. We want to try and get cast and
crew involved, because that if we were a customer and
the film was available in that we would say wow.
And we want we want the people to receive this
to really love it.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
That's a daring, fine mission. I'm all about that.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah, sure, I was just going to go back to
oteth if it's kind of like add some more kind
of points. I think he makes a lot of really
important points. But also it's important to stress that this
is something we've just kind of been doing in between
everything else. So we've got families, we've got kids, we've
got day jobs, so we're trying to get this in

(31:12):
this in like late at night or where we can
a little bit of time work on the kind of
you know, bits on the label. So it's been tricky
in that respect, and I think he's what Renjita said
is is really important in terms of like the generosity
of what kind of people can willing to say and
help out and say, yeah, yeah, you know this is
the you know, the person to speak to about this

(31:34):
and you know, particular aspect of the label the next step.
So people have been really kind of helpful and generous
with their kind of time.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
But yeah, so I.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Think it's been a learning curve for us as well.
I think we've learned so much along the way in
terms of from where it kind of starts and where
it's kind of kind of end up as well.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Omar, why don't you tell us about this first film
that people can look into on the Kickstarter and what
your first release will be of.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
In terms of the film. So the reason we've kind
of chosen this film, we feel and it is is
considered to be the most kind of one of the
most important cult films in India. Really, so there's a
kind of real kind of co audience out there for
this film. I think it's a really important film in

(32:27):
terms of So I've written a book on Indian Parallel
Cinema which looks at the history of the movement from
the sixties up until the mid nineties. And the director
Gomul Swarup, who's really important to the movement, who trained
under Money Call as well worked with a collaborator a
number of kind of films very much a bit of

(32:51):
anomaly as a filmmaker, I would argue and am that
would be there is a very kind of anomalous film
as well. It's I was going to describe the plot,
but I can't. I was going to say, the story
about this young boy called home growing up in a
village in Rajasthan and he can do like weird and

(33:11):
strange things like holding his breath for a you know,
ridiculous amount of time. But it's kind of like it's
very much a kind of a fever dream of a film. Really,
it's kind of tied together with many different kind of
surreal sequences, but there's nothing quite like it in Indian cinema.
When you do watch this film, it kind of gets

(33:33):
under your skin and you start thinking about film as well,
but you start thinking about kind of Indian culture, about
kind of history, about politics, about science. It makes you
think and it kind of opens your mind. So it's
kind of weirdly enough, it was kind of like the
way in which it was marketed very much as a
kind of like an LSD kind of trip Sack kind

(33:55):
of experience, which it is actually depending on how you
watch the film and what kind of moodier in as well.
So I think this is a and Donald's wroupe has
been really generous with his time as well, and kind
of like when we kind of approached him initially said
we're gonna, you know, we want to release on Darby
Dara as a kind of a you know, on Blu Ray.

(34:18):
He he's been really really kind of instrumental and kind
of making sure it does happen as well. So it's
important to haven't got experimental cinema in India, but also
the history of parallel cinema. It's a really really critical
kind of film in terms of cult kind of cinema
in India as well. So I think those are some

(34:40):
of the reasons why we feel it's it feels like
an appropriate kind of first release. I know Renjet is
a huge fan of the film himself. He can talk
more about he has shown the film himself. I think
a couple of times.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Yeah, I think. I think the film has only been
screened three times in the UK that the first time
I was in the audience, it was at the London
Film Festival. It was a recent restoration that was doing
the rounds of the sort of film festivals, but only
got screened the once as far as I know. And

(35:15):
then I got hold of it, screened it myself, and
I invited Omar along and we did a double bill
of Roger Corman's The Trip with Come All Through on
the Bid and we talked about that sort of the
sort of circular connection of you know, the Roger Corman's film,
sort of tapping into that sort of world of Leary

(35:39):
and and sort of Tibetan philosophy and Indian philosophy and
and sort of marrying that up with this sort of
chemical substances that can sort of achieve the shortcut to enlightenment.
So so using Indian philosophy to sell drugs, and then

(36:00):
and then this sort of restoration marketing where there was
a great sort of pull line on the poster that
this was the great Indian LSD trip. So using then
a sort of an American film trope which was used
to you know, in other films as well, like Kubrick
two thousand and one. Was I think on the poster

(36:22):
like you know this is you know, you're going on
a trip. You know, it's this sort of this this
idea of experiencing a film in the cinema as a
sort of mind expanding experience then being applied to this
otherwise very unpacifiable film, because how do you sell this
film otherwise doesn't fit into any genre or type, It

(36:44):
doesn't conform to any sort of expectations. So I found
that fascinating as a sort of connection on a double
bill basis. And then that the third time that I
know that it was screen was one of the students
that I met at the National Film Televisi school actually
was doing a season and wanted to screen it. And
he'd actually studied under Come all through in India before

(37:06):
he came to London, and I connected them up with
the with the archive to get it licensed, and actually,
in fact, that was the first screening of the film
done under the terms of our new license. Because what's
the other thing to talk about is we're not just
a label. We want to be a film licensing service
as well, because as curators, one of the biggest frustrations

(37:29):
we have not just Withinian distributors, but I get it
with French and Italian and other distributors as well, is
some people just don't understand the economics of indie cinemas.
You know, you want to screen a film and a
forty seat tiny little microcinema, you can't. You can't charge
hundreds and hundreds of pounds or dollars because you're never

(37:49):
going to make the money back. And they're used to
only having their films screened at major festivals like a
one off screening. I'll make a few thousand and then
that's it. It will never be seen again. Whereas we're
very much interested in how do we get dozens of
film clubs to screen this film to micro audiences, because
that's how you that's how you keep the memory of

(38:10):
a film alive, and that's how you keep sort of
film Culture Alive is actually screening it and talking about
these films. So so our deal and hopefully all our
feature deals will be not only do we want the
license to put this out on home video, but we
want a flat affordable rate that small cinemas and film
clubs can then actually screen this as well. So and

(38:32):
we've secured that with with Ondadad and we've had one
screening under that under that license, say so that he
was very pleased to get to get a decent rate.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
That is a very important part of this one thing
that has even just from the first time that you
you both started talking about this online, it felt like
the start of something special. It felt like something that
this is people advocating for an entire movement, an entire

(39:02):
generation of film that had not had not not free access,
but like even the ability for people to truly discover
And Yeah, the way you describe that is immense. I'm
so appreciative of that. And to tie it to one
other thing, on your Kickstarter you use a very specific
word that I immediately fell in love with and I

(39:23):
want to hear what it means to you, because on
your Kickstarter you list South Asian films and diaspark films,
and that is I don't know, as a white male
in the United States that is one of the most
privileged people in the world and not knowing what you know,
dealing with diaspores is not for me personally, but I

(39:47):
work in immigration and it means the world to me
to hear somebody talk about this. So what does that
word mean to your guys's mission?

Speaker 1 (39:54):
For us, I think the focus is not just going
to be on you know, film from South Asia, but
we're very much interested in those filmmakers who active within
the South Asian diaspora, not just here in the UK,
but also in the US as well, because I think
a lot of there a lot of those films the

(40:15):
South Asian dasper films have also you know, rarely ever
get screened and not available to access as well. So
I think we we kind of want to kind of
keep it as broad as possible as well, to try
and be able to kind of consider and think about
films outside of just kind of you know, the canon,

(40:39):
so to speak, as well, and start thinking about kind
of the aspect kind of filmmakers here in the UK
as well, And there's there is quite a lot actually
here as well in terms of like what we can
access from the different kind of archives that are available
as well. A lot of the stuff, some of it
has been digitized and is available kind of kind of
through the BFI as well. But then there's a lot

(41:00):
of filmmakers who just once again people might not know
about them, and collectives as well, people might not know
about them as well, So it's another opportunity to think
about and make their kind of work access as well,
you know, accessible to kind of cinemas as well, and
too audiences. So there is a there is a broader

(41:24):
kind of a cultural kind of aspect to what we're
trying to do as well. And I think what Brinjeeth
was saying about kind of making these films kind of
accessible to kind of cinemas as well is fundamental really
and kind of sits quite importantly alongside what we're trying
to do with the label in terms of getting the

(41:44):
physical kind of media out to kind of to you know,
to audiences as well. I think it is important because
I find every year whenever I try to curate something,
I come across so many kind of barriers when it
comes to discussing and negotiating with cinemas because they just

(42:05):
can't get the fees that's these distributors, a licensee kind
of rights holders are asking for is just simply extortion
and it just doesn't work and it's not practical in
kind of the economics. That model that was there before
is not sustainable now. So it's very much the lower

(42:28):
the fee the bear is really and I think that
we're trying to do with with there, I think is
going to be kind of like hopefully open the door
and other people we're hoping will also take note, because
I think a lot of Indian distributors based in India

(42:49):
who've got offices around the world don't really understand the
dynamics of kind of the way in which audience is
for work and also what cinemas are facing. Independent cinemas
are facing, you know, so many cuts and so many
kind of budget issues, and audience is kind of changing
as well. So there's many different factors and dimensions to

(43:09):
the way in which which you know, Indian distributors and
by scenes holders kind of sometimes close their eyes to
and just oblivious to. So I think our model, hopefully
once it is kind of put into practice, will we're
hoping kick open a door for kind of other people
to take note as well. So we're in this very

(43:29):
much for kind of film audiences, and it kind of
you know, I wasn't I'm going to say educating audiences,
but kind of really kind of broadening kind of their
understanding of kind of what Southeast South Asian cinema can be.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Really it's important.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
So looking at the future, I know that a lot
of people that have never started a label, which is
most people don't necessarily grasp that you can't just start
and put five films out a month. It's literally not
a feasible thing unless you are inherently grotesquely wealthy. So
what are what are the future plans for the cloud Door?

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Well, to your point where we're starting with the very
conservative ambition of one in our first year. If we
can do if we can do just one, then then
at least at least it's sort of you know, we'll
get we'll get an all round experience of what it
actually takes to get, you know, because we've done the theory,
we've quite go on lined up, We've got the supply

(44:32):
supply chain all sort of all sort of in place,
everything budgeting, but we've got to actually do it now,
and and and rather than just assume it's going to
be a breeze, we've said, okay, we're going to give
ourselves a year even just to get this relief out.
So hopefully if people are seeing this and the and
the kickstarter is live, you know, bear with us. I
think we've put a date of March next year. I
think that gives us enough time, hopefully to get all

(44:52):
the extras film, get all the authoring, don't get it
all manufactured. I think also it's a good test because
it's all very well getting the getting the sort of
fantastic response online, but it's only once people actually buy
or pre order the stuff that you really know it's
viable and that it has legs long term, and you know,

(45:12):
fingers crossed it does. But yeah, we won't be scaling
up massively in the short let's get one done. It'd
be great if we could move to I don't know,
three or four a year, if if this is viable,
if if it generates enough income that we could get
we could get some other collaborators with partners or staff
on board, and then maybe you can scale up even more.

(45:35):
I mean, there are literally thousands of films that we
could potentially access. But it's definitely going to be a
slow start. Established the label, established the brand, establish whether
it's even viable, learn how to do it before we
before we sort of ramp up massively, if at all,
because it may be that detail out of the sort

(45:56):
of commitments, we've got to keep it fairly boutique. But
we've already got a slave of sort of other films.
I mean, well, one thing that's been really amazing is
filmmakers actually just reaching out. We haven't even got a
label yet, and filmmakers aren't things like hey have you
seen my film? And or you know, we'd love to,
you know, get out because earlier point, you know, the

(46:20):
filmmakers want their films accessible too, and often the archives
that they deal with or the distribution deals that they
have with they're just not interested in putting this stuff
on on you know, they've got to deal with Netflix.
It's out there, it's done, and they're not interested in
the home video mark at all. But the filmmakers are
because they want their film to have a life. They
want their films to live on in some way and

(46:42):
not and not just get deleted off a hard drive
in ten years time.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
Yeah, that is a very sad point, but very very true.
I mean to keep it in the in the sad
moment for for just a couple of seconds. Is a
lot of these films because they've never been served appropriately
on home video like this, filmmakers are not going to
be here much longer, and we need some people to
capture some of these voices to get that context down
for archiving more. I mean, yes, it is vastly important

(47:10):
archive the film, but hearing somebody speak on the process
and what led to the creation of that is a
massively important part of that.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Yeah, I think I just want to mention somebody here,
which is the Film Heritage Foundation in India, which was
set up a few years ago by Shavindra Dungunpur, who
very much is at the forefront of film preservation in
India right now. So I think they've got two films
right now at Bologna. They'll send a retrobata which they're playing,

(47:40):
and I think they've made it a mission of theirs
whereby they restore at least two or three films a
year now in either two K or four K.

Speaker 4 (47:48):
And done brilliantly.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Because they are now set in the benchmark in terms
of restoration. Working with Bologna, obviously you're going to get
the best of possible restoration. I think what Shavindu is
really kind of emphasizing and underlining is that all this
this incredible history of Indian cinema, so many films out there,

(48:10):
and it's mind boggling and bonkers to think that the
citizen kenes, the kind of the you know, the gone
with the wings of Indian cinema are just not available
on the way in which they should be and appreciating.
And I'm seeing in people's kind of homes and even
in the cinemas as well. It just doesn't exist. And
it's just crazy to think that we're in that situation still.

(48:34):
So I think ultimately we want to kind of be
able to get to that point where we can release
these films which are accessible for people but using the
best kind of archival kind of materials that are out there.
And the Film Harrishon Foundation is doing example work in
terms of making and restoring a lot of these films,
and one of the things they're doing actually this week

(48:58):
they're having a discussion on rest duration at Bologna Film
Heritage Foundation and they're talking about Shortley's restoration, which they're
doing right now, which is a long time coming probably,
you know, still one of the arguably that the most
famous kind of popular Indian film ever made. Can you

(49:18):
watch it on proper kind of blu ray right now? No,
you can't access it. And it's so so sad. But
it is changing and it's it is taking its time,
but it's happening, and it's great and exciting to see
it that it's finally happening. And a lot of even
the National Film Archive in India started to read the
heart that they have to hold on and restore these

(49:41):
films because they're going to lose so much of the
history now. And I think we can play a really
important part in kind of becoming a conduit in terms
of getting those films to collectors, to people who can
want to watch these and own these films, because Mother
India deserves to be on the same shelf as Citizen
K and you know, yeah the phone, you know, true

(50:03):
for and God and everyone else. So I think, yeah,
I think it's important in terms of film preservation. Is
really kind of is starting to to kind of turn
a corner in in India as well, which is great
to see. I think that's going to be important for
us as well in the future.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Absolutely, is there anything I failed to ask about that
you guys want to share before we call it a day.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
I suppose. I just want to add to what Omar
said in terms of I think I think we sort
of accidentally hit the right timing for this for this launch,
in that the number of the two K four K
restorations that have that have you know, just starting to
appear out of India is quite remarkable, which potentially means,

(50:50):
you know, if this, if this first release goes well,
you know that there there will be a really good
pipeline in terms of films that could be potentially available
to us. And Shavendra at the Film Heritage Foundation has
been being great in terms of connecting us to to
rights holders and others even just on the screening sign

(51:10):
their loans of discussions on the home video side the film.
The the the n f DC as they were formerly
called called now the part of the n f AI
that's the National Film Archive of India have been you know,
you know, amazing in terms of understanding what we're trying
to do. Because it is a it is a completely
different model to what they used to. So so getting

(51:32):
them out of the line as the sort of first
archive that we're working with. You know, they have hundreds
thousands of titles, you know, and and some really some
some some really famous ones, but some really quirky ones
that they were telling Oh, I remember we were having
discussion with them, and they're telling us how they digitized
a whole load of like children's films in their archive,
like educational films, And I'm really interested in all that

(51:55):
sort of stuff. You know, this is stuff that that
that people haven't even be aware exists alone, will be
sort of asking for for for sort of screening rights
or how video rights for so I'm keen that we
that we do a bit of that as well. You know,
maybe maybe there's a box set of children's films out
there waiting to be released at some point.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
That'd be fun. I really wanted to end this on
a sort of a hopeful note and for this again
not really a genre, because this is just an area
of the world that has not been served properly. Not
a genre. What are you know, two or three films
each that you could recommend that people seek out to
get a sense of what you not necessarily hope to release,

(52:42):
but just people to see. Hey, these are the type
of films that are amazing that I could potentially be
missing if something like this is not funded, if something
like this is not supported, if something like this is
not seen as important to so many of us that
are in the film circles that we're in.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
Can I can I just start by saying one way
would be, you know, maybe maybe check out our film creation.
So my film club is called super Kino. That's s
U p A k I n O. If you if
you look at my website supercino dot com, you can
see all the films are screen in the past. And
amongst the sort of weird and wonderful films from around
the world, there are there quite a few Indian films

(53:21):
as well, so check those out. Films like jug That
a Whole, which I put on a double bill with
Scorsese's After Hours because they're both set in single night
and have some very similar themes. So jog that always
up there as a as a as a top film
to seek out. But I'd also check out Omar's movie
blog where he's got like tons of films that he's

(53:44):
written about over the years, which is now a book.
So check out the book as well. But if you
just want to read it online, there's there's a great
blog in terms of in terms of film that that
that Omar has written about as well. There you go,
there's the book.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
Is that is that still in print? Can everybody still
purchase then?

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Yeah, it just came out in February, So this this
is a hard bat but it's an absolute extortion of price,
so don't buy it. So the paper a bankruptcy.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
You're really bad at promoting, by the way.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Yeah, so the paperback is out next year in January,
and it'll be like ten or twelve quids. I don't
know how much that probably is more accessible. I think
it'll be like, you know, ten or fifteen dollars in
the US. So if you want to kind of a
different canon of kind of Indian cinema, I do what
I do in each chapter is our list of a

(54:42):
cannon so of films that you need to go and
seek out. And you know, parallel cinema films which put
a completely different spin on your perspective of what kind
of the linear kind of way in which Indian cinema
is often kind of taught and kind of processed and
delivered to us through kind of you know, film culture.
So this is a kind of a different way of

(55:02):
thinking and looking at kind of Indian cinema. I think
it's kind of what we want to do with the
label as well, really in the sense that I want
to shake up things and make kind of audiences think about,
you know, the non linear way of Indian cinema as well,
because there's so many different branches and so many different

(55:23):
you know, dimensions to it, and the regional kind of
kind of stuff out there as well is using incredible
as well. So yeah, I would say have a look
at this. I could list loads of help, but I'm
not going to, but just go to this and my
blog as well, which is Movie Metal, which I've been
writing on there for a number of years. You know,

(55:45):
I have stopped off the past year because I'm writing
a book on So I'm doing a book on Usky Ruddy,
which is a money Calls kind of debut film which
is going to be part of the BFL Film Classics range.

Speaker 4 (55:58):
Nice I've been working on that as well.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Actually, Oski Rodi would be one I would strongly encourage
and recommend for listeners and you know, to go on
kind of seek and watch. It's really important film.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Well, I would recommend everybody go support your kickstarter. I
will be there day one to give I know it's
something that is really easy to say, Hey, everybody can
do this and not put your money behind it, but
I absolutely will be. I think this is one of
the most important things for physical media, for home video
and really just for South Asian cinema for this entire year.

(56:34):
So thank you guys.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
Hey, thanks so much for having us. And yeah, and
I'll be checking out your other shows as well. So
this has been I think. I think your library of
of previous shows is like a really good grounding for
anyone else who wants to start up the label as well.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
I'm quite proud of the people I've been able to
speak to and to have you guys be in that
catalog for me is immense. So thank you so much,
Thank you, Thank you for listening to the Disconnected podcast.
There's one big thing that you could do to help
the show, and that is to leave a rating and
review on the podcast service of your choice.

Speaker 5 (57:11):
Thank you me.

Speaker 6 (57:39):
No, do you love movies?

Speaker 4 (57:45):
So do I?

Speaker 6 (57:46):
What's up?

Speaker 4 (57:47):
Y'all.

Speaker 6 (57:47):
It's KB and I Love Movies inviting you to listen
to the Conversation, a film podcast where passion meets perspective
and opinion from the old school to the new. I
invite a guest on to discuss the movies that thrill us,
challenge us, break our hearts, or even blow our minds.

(58:08):
There's always new episodes dropping wherever you get your podcasts,
so join the conversation. We don't just watch movies, we
love talking about them too. The Conversation with KB Loves
Movies a part of Someone's Favorite Productions Podcast Network.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Thank you for listening.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
To hear more shows from the Someone's Favorite Productions Podcast Network.

Speaker 6 (58:36):
Please select the link in the description.

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