This week in our Four River Friday section, we bring you an interview with Radheya Jegatheva, director of the film The Quiet which won the Grand Prix award last year.
When an astronaut ponders on the quietude of space, he comes upon a startling self-realisation. The truth is written in the stars, but what will they reveal?
„With its incredibly convincing narration and an elaborate visual identity, this film has you on the edge of your seat from the first to the very last second. Exceptional 3D animation that accompanies the story is simply breathtaking, while the subtle auditory backdrop hints at the key to the story. My personal favorite!“, said the selection committee member Dinka Radonić.
Read more about how Radheya’s love for film began, how much the pandemic affected his work and what he thinks the yellow motive will represent FRFF this year! Follow the conversations with other young filmmakers every Friday in our Four River Friday section.
1. How did you fall in love with filmmaking?
Films and animations have always been a huge part of my life, and I really started being interested in creating them towards the end of my primary school. Initially, I was drawn to the VFX and began to learn how to use programs to create visuals, including animation and motion graphics. But I also always loved writing stories and once I had a grasp on how to create visuals I was able to project all of my written ideas into a visual format.Then, they naturally came together as animation and film.
2. Where do you find ideas and inspiration for your films?
Ideas and inspiration can come from all sorts of places, and I do like to draw on my interests and personal experiences, and then combine them with something new that I’d like to explore (e.g. my love of space). Frequently I find myself looking back on something I’d written in the past, taking an aspect of it and building a new idea from there. But I just try to do a lot of thinking. So many ideas for my projects come during the production process and so my works can be very malleable and fluid in that sense.
3. How do you manage with planning filmmaking during the pandemic?
Thankfully, where I live in Perth, Western Australia, there hasn’t been community transmission of COVID for several months, so life has pretty much gone back to normal. However, many of my meetings are still conducted through Zoom in terms of planning, both when we were in lockdown and afterwards as well. It’s definitely shaped the way we plan and function remotely.
4. If you’re making any new films, which stage of production are they now in?
I have a short animated film I’m working on with producer Hannah Ngo and writer Clare Toonen, which is an unrequited love story about a seagull who falls in love with a drone. I also have a documentary I’m working on. Both are in the preproduction and planning stages at the moment, and I’m very excited to be taking on these projects this year.
5. How did you like our last year’s online edition of the Four River Film Festival?
I thought it was very well run and put together. It was great to be able to be part of the festival from afar!
6. Do you plan to join the FRFF this year as well and what do you expect from the festival in Karlovac?
I certainly would have liked to, and I sent my film ‘Painting By Numbers’. I explained in the cover letter that I hope it can be used as an exhibition film (as I turned 21 already).
7. Last year’s festival theme was rubber ducks. What do you think, which yellow theme will FRFF have this year?
Maybe the Sun! (or you could keep ducks and make that a permanent mascot)
