I think as a young filmmaker, it’s so easy to start looking at other people’s work and getting too scientific about what stories you should be telling and how you should be executing them. But I think the sooner you can start trying to tune into your own true instincts — rather than trying to mimic the ‘hits’ — the sooner you’ll start understanding who you are as a director. And even if that doesn’t immediately translate into our familiar defitnion of ‘success’ , you’ll get more enrichment.
As a part of our series about “Filmmakers Making A Social Impact” I had the pleasure of interviewing Aneil Karia.
British Director Aneil Karia began his career directing several award-winning shorts, including BEAR starring Ben Whishaw, and his Film 4 financed short WORK which was nominated for a BAFTA and a BIFA. His credits includes TOP BOY, Channel 4’s PURE and Kano’s TROUBLE. Aneil’s feature debut SURGE premiered at Sundance, where the lead Ben Whishaw won the World Cinema Best Actor Jury Prize. The film was produced by Rooks Nest and was released this year. Most recently, he directed TEARDROPS for Kano.
Award-winning actor, writer, producer, musician, and activist Riz Ahmed is an Emmy Award winner for his lead performance in HBO’s THE NIGHT OF. He is also an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG nominee for his lead performance in SOUND OF METAL, a film which saw him him the National Board of Review and the IFP Gotham Awards for Best Actor, as well as being recognised as Best Actor by more than fourteen leading critics groups — the most “Best Actor” awards of 2021, to date. He is the first Muslim to be nominated for lead actor at the Oscars, and the first to win a lead acting Emmy. MOGUL MOWGLI marked Ahmed’s production company Left Handed Films’ feature film debut. Co-written, starring and produced by Ahmed and directed by Bassam Tariq, the film was nominated for a 2021 BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. Next up, Ahmed will be seen opposite Octavia Spencer in Amazon Studios’ psychological thriller ENCOUNTER, directed by BAFTA-winning UK filmmaker Michael Pearce (Beast).
THE LONG GOODBYE’s stunning cinematography was created by Stuart Bentley (Humans, I Am) and was made in collaboration with WePresent, the editorial platform of WeTransfer.
Just some of the prestigious international film festivals the film has been selected for includes The London Critics Circle Awards 2021 where it won the Best British/Irish Short Film, Palm Springs International ShortFest, Cannes 2021 where it won a Gold Lion and two Silver Lions, Rhode Island and many more. This powerful short also screened at BFI Southbank as part of a season curated by the Tape Collective.
This topical film is being considered for a 2022 Academy Award. THE LONG GOODBYE is screening on YouTube.
Thank you so much for doing this interview with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit. Can you share your “backstory” that brought you to this career?
I didn’t have a particularly artistic background. In fact I remember being told not to do Art GCSE because I couldn’t draw a good apple, which is ridiculous when I think back! Anyway, I loved watching TV — I got hooked on soaps, then later discovered dramas by people like Jimmy McGovern and Paul Abbot. We didn’t have cable or anything — but when I went round mates who did, I’d adore watching music videos — I could’ve watched them for hours. The thing is, I didn’t connect the love I had for this stuff with the idea that people actually made this stuff for a living. It was too abstract a concept for me back then! But yeah, in hindsight that’s where the passion all came from.
I ended up studying Journalism at university and worked in television news for a little while when I was a young adult. But having moved to London, I was starting to discover more independent / foreign cinema and this abstract desire to do something more creative started to get a bit more tangible. The first thing outside Journalism I got to make was a low-budget music video. But the journey from there to making a career as a director was long and messy to be honest. I spent years making stuff that didn’t necessarily enrich or excite me creatively, but in hindsight was an important part of learning the craft. Things like behind-the-scenes content for tv series — or even hair product tutorial videos for YouTube!,It was back in 2012 where I had this moment of clarity where I said to myself stop putting the onus on getting paid work and make something you care about. This ended up being my first short film, Beat. That experience was like an epiphany of sorts for me. For the first time I was trying to tap into my true instincts of what I wanted to attempt as a filmmaker. From there on it wasn’t easy but at least I understood the direction I wanted to move in.
Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?
As a director, I feel like I get to be surrounded by interesting people. I’m endlessly impressed by and interested in actors, DoPs, wardrobe designers…I think my favourite thing about the job is getting to collaborate with all these masters of their different crafts. I guess the desire as a director as your progress through your career is to work with the best actors. The three people that I’ve worked with recently Kano, Riz and Ben Whishaw are all people who go so deep into their roles its all so consuming, and I find it incredibly impressive and interesting to see that process. But yeah I think the great thing about making TV or film is the crew become this sprawling family of different kinds of artists you get to hang out with for X amount of weeks or months.
Which people in history inspire you the most? Why?
Filmmakers who are trying to speak out against the systemic oppression of either them or the people in their country. For instance Iranian filmmakers like Abbas Kiarostami or Jafar Panahi who have been put under house arrest. Their art seems like a compulsion to speak up for justice or minority voices, their film making seems to be a humanitarian act almost. It’s always quite inspiring when filmmakers are trying to speak out and risk their livelihood to inspire genuine change.
Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview, how are you using your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share with us the meaningful or exciting social impact causes you are working on right now?
All I try and do is channel my energy on projects like The Long Goodbye which are going to challenge mind sets and create conversations and hopefully make people view things differently. I think The Long Goodbye is a perfect example of that, its intention was not to shock or terrorise the viewer it was to try and distill these fears that huge numbers of minority communities all over the world live with, and to speak to those fears. I think it’s quite meaningful and important to see some of our deepest fears spoken about and realised in artistic endeavours. I don’t think we set out to educate in any grand sense but with any film, particularly like this you want to challenge engrained lazy mindsets and make people think differently. I think that’s why tonally the naturalism is really important. We didn’t want to create anything that incredibly heightened the story. What happens is really intense and an extreme scene but tonally we didn’t want to treat it like a heightened super genre that only exists on screen, the only way we found naturalism was to make sure this didn’t feel like fiction, to make it feel real to people. Our take on it, the steps between where we are now in the west and what the film is showing is fewer steps than people would care to imagine, and as Riz has spoken about, this isn’t an artistic dystopian imagined future for many people in the world they have lived this very reality. That’s why the naturalism is so important to make this feel like a real possibility.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
Not a particular individual but I felt the reaction from the South Asian community in the UK, the love they showed for it, the intensity of feeling they recieved the film with was really moving and vindicating for us. The film was speaking to those darkest fears that I mentioned, that a lot of minority communities live with, their parents and ancestors have also lived with. We talked about how their parents still keep a packed suitcase above their wardrobe, because that latent primal instinct of having to run at any moment or flee is so real and alive. But as muchthe simple act of painting an authentic and real portrait of a South Asian family living together, loving each other, being real human beings interacting with each other, being messy was actually interestingly equally meaningful to the South Asian community because they feel like they don’t see that enough, they often see very trope manifestations of their lives.
Are there three things that individuals, society or the government can do to support you in this effort?
I can’t even begin to dig into the problems with the attitude of this particular government and their entire stance towards immigration and their lack of compassion for what it means to be a minority in this country, the stealth racism that pervades their entire ethos, it would take me too long. If there was just one very simple thing the government could do, it would be to watch this film and genuinely consider that there are real human beings at the sharp end of their poisonous, insiduous rhetoric.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
I think the most compelling thing someone could have told me early on in my career, would’ve been to really try to focus on the ideas that live in your own mind and soul — and start exploring them with your work. I think as a young filmmaker, it’s so easy to start looking at other people’s work and getting too scientific about what stories you should be telling and how you should be executing them. But I think the sooner you can start trying to tune into your own true instincts — rather than trying to mimic the ‘hits’ — the sooner you’ll start understanding who you are as a director. And even if that doesn’t immediately translate into our familiar defitnion of ‘success’ , you’ll get more enrichment. I spent years working part-time jobs in food markets or mowing lawns, all the time thinking I was failing because I wasn’t making an X amount of money being a “director”. But looking back that’s just not how it works necessarily.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
I think I’d be hesitant to tell filmmakers they have to start viewing their filmmaking through the prism of social change. Obviously it’s a great thing to be doing with your craft, but I think when you’re a young filmmaker, you should be allowed to figure out your voice. That said, the generation below me feels so much more politically conscience and informed than I was at their age. I am endlessly amazed by that, how they seem to have a deep understanding of politics and the systemic problems that riddle our society not just an understanding but they seem to be more engaged and ready to change that. They put more energy and time into changing that than I did, which is really inspiring. The younger generations are instinctively using their art practice for change and that is inspiring for me. But I don’t think they should feel compelled to necessarily.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
It’s sort of very generic and something a lot of parents tell their children, it’s definitely not something ground braking. My mum would always tell me, don’t spend your energy worrying about what other people think of you, it’s very basic but it’s the hardest one to practice. The older I get the more I realise it’s one of the ultimate pieces of advice.
This was great, thank you so much for sharing your story and doing this with us. We wish you continued success!
Filmmakers Making A Social Impact: Why & How Director Aneil Karia Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.