Ms. Divya: How did your journey of becoming a filmmaker begin? Dir. Shrikant: Movies have always fascinated me. But I never knew the world of movies. I always wanted to become an actor like most others. However, because of the lack of knowledge about movies, I thought...

Ms. Divya Jay: What made you become a filmmaker? Dir. Mehul Agaja: I left home at 18. I am a self-taught filmmaker; I learnt cinema from books and watching all kinds of movies. I have not made short films; neither have I assisted anyone. I worked as a co-writer in my...

Divya: What inspired you to become a Director? Rajdeep Paul: I was born and brought up in the heart of the city of Kolkata. After completing my school education, I joined an Engineering College because my father wanted me to become a Computer Engineer. I also did a...

Divya: Please share your journey of becoming a Director. Ms. Roqiyeh TAVAKKOLI: I have a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema and Master of Arts in Dramatic Literature. I have made more than 20 short fiction and documentary films. I have made 2 feature films. Won more than 50...

Divya: When did you decide to become a filmmaker? Mahdi Torab Beigi: ‘At the End of Evin’ is my first movie, but I made a couple of short films before this. The love for literature, poetry and scriptwriting are the reasons that led me down the road of filmmaking....

Divya: Tell us something about your background and how you became a filmmaker? Sripal: I’m from a rural part of the state of Telangana in India. I liked movies as a child but never wanted to be a filmmaker, until I moved to Hyderabad for studies. The city life was...

Divya Jay from CIFF team chats with up National & State Award winner, Mr. Avinash Shetty, to understand how he picks the films he produces and what do film festivals mean to him and his films. Tell us something about your journey of getting into films.I started my...

I was studying in 9th standard when Kannada actor, Upendra, visited my school for a film shoot. I had absolutely no idea about films till then. My friends are the ones who told me about Upendra and that he is a renowned director and actor. I stayed back to watch...

Dir. Hamidreza Ghotbi is a theatre person turned Director. In a casual chat with Divya Jay of the CIFF team he tells us his favourite genres of films and how he feels about his film making it to CIFF for the 2nd time in a row! Divya Jay: How and what made you get...

Knowing and having basic knowledge of all the departments that you work for a film is very essential for a filmmaker. Dir. Murat Çeri in conversation with Divya Jay from CIFF team shares his experience of handling multiple departments of a movie and the importance of...

The journey of how a Doctor followed his passion and became a filmmaker! Dir. Ercan Kesal chats up with Divya Jay of the CIFF team and shares his journey as how to he followed his heart to become what he is today. Tell us about your background and how you got into...

I was born in a family of cinema professionals and I began my artistic career as an editor and sound designer and cinematographer in TV and cinema. According to me, coming up with a good and influential topic as well as finding sponsors and investors for finalizing...

Divya Jay: Tell us about your background and how you got into filmmaking.Mr. Ignacio Márquez: I studied film at University and in parallel I started learning theatre. Even my first cinematographic experience was through the theatre because I have specialized in...

My journey began quite a long time ago. I did a course from the Film Institute in Pune (1986-1989). In those days, not many people from Orissa were into filmmaking because the Odia film industry was pretty small. For a profession, not many people wanted to pick the...

Micha Lewinsky is a new age Writer & Director who has 8 wins and 10 nominations to his credit till date. Right from being recognized as the ‘New Swiss Talent’ in 2005 at the Locarno International Film Festival to making Moskau Einfach! in 2020 (playing at the...

Captain Ashok Mahapatra (Producer of the movie Josef: Born in Grace, who has also played a small role in the film) is a Merchant Navy officer by profession who later went into the United Nations system. After retiring when he returned to India in 2018, he wanted to...

Director Wei Zhang’s movie EMPTY NEST is going to be played at the 18th Chennai International Film Festival. His movie THE PHOTOGRAPHER was part of the 17th CIFF. Divya Jay from Team CIFF catches up with him on understanding how he works and how it feels to...

Divya Jay: Tell us about your background and how you got into filmmaking. Ms. Maria Lafi: I remember myself as a kid in the darkness of an open-air summer cinema watching my first film with my dad, wondering how this movie was made. I was so fascinated that my...

France-based Director and Writer of the film JUNK LOVE, Mr. Pierre de Suzzoni has a chat with Divya Jay (CIFF team) to tell us about his film and when he even decided to become a filmmaker. Mr. Pierre de Suzzoni says Make Movies Your Style, never try to just copy...

ARGHYAM, a Kannada movie, talks about one of the most burning issue of today; Water Scarcity! Divya Jay (CIFF team) chats with up with Mr. Y Sreenivas, the Director of the movie and understands how he conceptualized the movie and what provoked him to make a movie on...

SCREENPLAY OF AN INDIAN LOVE STORY by Mr. KL Prasad is a women-centric movie and deals with emotions of a woman and how she lives and succeeds in a man-dominated world. Divya Jay (CIFF Team) talks to him to understand how he chose the subject for his movie and what...

Tamani, the Malaysian film by debutant feature film director will be showcased at the 17th Chennai International Film Festival. Divya Jay (CIFF team) chats up with him to understand his journey of becoming a filmmaker and what he feels about his movie debuting at...

Director, Producer and Writer of the movie TASHI, Ms. Shilpa Krishnan, was at the 16th Edition of the Chennai International Film Festival for her movie screening. A very chatty, chirpy and fun-filled soul who was nice enough to give me (Divya Jay) some...

Mr. Resul Pookutty, the Oscar winner for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was at the 16th Chennai International Film Festival for the Indian Premiere of his film ‘The Sound Story’! I (Divya Jay) managed to steal a few minutes from his busy schedule to learn about...

I (Divya Jay) got this wonderful opportunity of meeting and talking to the team that worked on RATSASAN and how this awesome psychological thriller happened! Mr. Ravikumar (Director), Mr. Naan Saravanan (the one who played ‘Christopher’), Mr. Keerthivasan...

Ms. Naina Sen is the Director of the Australian movie, THE SONG KEEPERS. I (Divya Jay) caught up with her when she came down to Chennai for the screening of her movie to know what inspired her to make such a beautiful and heartwarming movie! Naina Sen has...

Arnab Middya, Director of the Bengali movie Andarkahini was in Chennai for the screening of his debut film as a Director. I (Divya Jay) got to chat with him and know how he took up filmmaking and what his journey has been like! Divya: Why did you decide to take...