Thats a Wrap
Saturday, April 10, 2010 at 6:13AM ;)
A Bashir Ahmad Bashir cartoon from the Aftab, 1994Kashmir is behind us and Will and I take off out of Delhi on Monday. Filming wrapped up a few days ago, and when I be honest, it didn't feel as monumental as I perhaps thought it would. I feel confident though that we have everything we need to make a film that we are happy with and does justice to the people and present situation in Kashmir. We have a tonne (a terabyte to be precise) of footage, much of which will not see the lens of a projector, but that which does will hopefully enlighten you a little, or a lot.
Will is currently taking some respite in the South of India, wielding his camera like the chubby kid in that Star-Wars-light-sabre video on Youtube. He took off from Kashmir 10 days or so ago to check out Kerala, while I stayed on to tie off some loose ends, fill a few holes we felt we had in our footage, or just strengthen what we already had.
Will leaving wasn't a soppy, nostalgic, or sentimental parting, again like I thought it might be (or was personally prone to letting it become). It was significant though given that we pretty much hadn't spent more than a handful of days apart after first meeting one another at the start of January. So pardon me while I get a little sentimental here and give him a huge shout out. There are few people I can spend so much time with in such challenging circumstances. Like any married couple, it had it's moments, but I couldn't have hoped for a more solid guy to get involved with this project. (If you are reading this, Thanks Buddy.)
As for me, I spent my last week in Kashmir visiting Gulmarg one more time to shoot Arif's interview one more time. I also went up for a few runs on the mountain with Billa to cure my angst at, well, how this film is going to turn out. It snowed a few centimetres and Billa, Tiger and I were the only people skiing on the entire mountain. Ski patrol had even thrown in the towel.
Back in Srinagar, I meet a few dignitaries to bring this film to their attention and had some good debates with two journalist friends who live and work in Kashmir. I drank a lot of milkshakes at “Erina” (remember it, they are quality) and shot a scene that has been stuck in my head, but up until the last evening was not manifesting itself on film. In between times, I spent some time at the university library sifting through newspaper archives from the early 90's when the conflict began. It was interesting and terrible all at once. I found the daily cartoons to be particularly poignant of the sentiment in Kashmir during those days.
A Bashir Ahmad Bashir cartoon from the Aftab newspaper, 1994
Shockingly, every front page of every day in an archive from 1994 in each of three different papers either showed graphic photos of Kashmiris who had died, either as militants or innocent by standers, or headlines proclaiming another 5,6,7,8,9,etc dead. I couldn't help but think how sheltered we are in our media. The 6 o'clock horror show we so loosely refer to as the evening news is so graphically amplified in Kashmir and so lived by the people that read said headlines.
Absolutely the violence has subsided in Kashmir, but having spent a good chunk of time in Srinagar we came to realize that the struggle still persists. Young “freedom fighters” now-a-days throw stones rather than sling guns, but the realities are still very harsh. One afternoon Will and I went to the martyr's grave yard at Eid Gar to shoot some stock footage, There we meet a father tending to the grave of his 13 year old son who had been hit in the head with a tear gas canister in January.
The issue of how the military and police forces have not adapted to a change in the conflict was talked about in multiple articles the March issues of both “The Honour” and “Kashmir Scan,” two monthly magazines. In the wake of an armed struggle, the “freedom fighters” have largely silenced their guns and taken up protesting and stone pelting, but the security forces are still responding as though it were a gun fight. There has been little reform in their training in how to manage crowds and control protests.
I will admit that incidents such as these largely undermine our thesis that “Kashmir is a safe place to travel.” The struggle is internal and all parties involved (militant groups and the military) understand that foreign casualties won't help anyone's cause. For us, this notion has instigated intense debate and cause to reconsider how truthful our claim that “Kashmir is a safe place to travel” really is. We do still feel it is, and that sentiment is shared by any and every of the powder junkies that come to Kashmir in the winter and the tripped out, stinky, hairy backpackers that filter through in the warmer months.
As far as we are concerned at this point, we intend to show what we have seen and experienced and let the audience make up their own mind.
So, in the meantime, I am sweating like it is going out of fashion in Delhi while waiting to fly out of here on Monday. En route back to Canada I have a week in Europe eating and drinking all things decadent and cultured. I do love it here and have had an incredible time, but I can't wait to get out of here.
-Anthony
Reader Comments (4)
Another appreciated post, Anthony. Mark and I look forward to meeting you. Can't wait to see Will this next week when we meet up in Santa Barbara at a wedding and then drive home - with him trapped in a vehicle for hours to talk story! Thanks so much... This is one incredible adventure you guys have been on. You'll never be quite the same - richer for the experience.
Strong work Anthony. You guys did a great job and I'm sure the film will reflect all the effort and time you've invested.
As a three time returning powder junkie I am very interested to see the perspective you take. I am not prone to delving into the personalities of conflict zones in other parts of the world but holy crap this one is intoxicating. Would love to have hung out for the late season to continue my work with some of the guys from Green Kashmir but perhaps this gives me good reason to return in Summer. Great work Ant and Will, can't wait to see some clips.
A good read!