Behind the story: THE STAGE RACE | JIFF 2022 | SHORTED 2022
- dhaval195
- Mar 25, 2022
- 3 min read
If you have watched the film, you must have known that this short film is on my father’s journey in a cycle race. If you have not, check it out on SHORTED. You can book tickets to the screening on the below website.
I have heard these stories of cycle journey and this race specifically since my childhood. Back in 2010 after making short films and a music video, I thought of making this into a feature film. However, was quick to realise that I am not yet skilled for such a project. So, I reached out to the Bollywood production houses by sending e-mails with the concept but there was no response on those e-mails despite many follow ups. I only wished that they at least acknowledge the e-mails, but I really doubt if those e-mails were even read by their team. Frankly, even I did not follow up much on that as I got involved in other things. However, this story was always at the back of my mind.
Fast forward to 2020, in a year of lockdown, while I was searching for the soundtrack for my other videos, I came across a soundtrack called Free Spirit which then became the motivation to make this film. While listening to the track, entire movie edit was aligned in my mind. It was like eureka moment for me. I listened to the soundtrack again and again to push myself for executing this film.
Although my father went on many cycle journeys, I limited my scope to the “The Stage Race”. No written script was provided, and the film was kept in regional language (Gujarati) to make my father comfortable and natural. Only gave him few guidelines on the intention of the interview.
We started shooting in early December 2020, the major challenge for me on this film was the audio, I had never work on any extensive audio-based project, this was the first one. As Ryan Connolly (Film Riot) says, you can get away with poor video but not with poor audio. It was a challenge and I wanted to ensure that I get it right, did many audio tests before I finalised on the settings. Though I still feel, it could have been better. Entire interview was done in One day and we also did some B-Roll shots within a week after that, edited major part of the story in the following week.
For the end cycling shots, I wanted to get the golden hour light and that is why we started early in the chilly winter morning. We reached the hill side before the sunrise to get some amazing lights. Unfortunately, there was more traffic than I had expected on the road even at that time of the day. But it was a satisfactory shoot overall.
Finally, the movie was exported, and my father was happy with the film. I published it on 21st Feb 2021, which co-incidentally happens to be the International Mother Language Day and this film is also in the mother language. The imposter in me kept saying who will be interested in watching this film but after the release, I was overwhelmed with the response I received from the audience and how it inspired many of them to stay determined and positive.
This film is an official selection at Jaipur International Film Festival 2022 (JIFF 2022) and nominated by SHORTED on their platform and will be screened from 27th March – 29th March. You can advance book your tickets on this link: https://shorted.in/short-films/the-stage-race-hope-athlete/
Thank you for reading.
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