With over 50 feature films to his name both as cameraman and director, Santosh Sivan is a star in his native India. He was invited to the Cannes Film Festival this week to receive the Pierre Angénieux Prize for his contribution to cinematography.
Sivan's award coincides with the much-anticipated return of Indian cinema, with one film in the main competition and three in the other categories.
It’s his first time at Cannes in person and he has enjoyed the warm welcome.
"I think Cannes is easily the most popular of all festivals," Sivan tells RFI, reeling off a list of international events he’s been to, from Sundance to Busan. What he likes most is the recognition Cannes offers to the technicians working behind the scenes.
Apart from a couple of international collaborations, it seems the world has been slow to appreciate his multiple talents.
This appears set to change thanks to the prestigious Pierre Angénieux prize awarded on Friday evening at a special ceremony, attended by Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux.
A second Angénieux encouragement award was handed over to young Estonian cinematographer Kadri Koop on the same occasion.
The prize is named after Frenchman Pierre Angénieux, who began manufacturing lenses for the film and television industry nearly ninety years ago. The equipment was used for NASA’s Apollo 11 mission and provided images of man's first step on the Moon.
Attachment to India
Sivan, who founded the Indian Society of Cinematographers in 1995 has had a long career in India and won dozens of accolades, but this is the first connected to France.
He garnered international attention with films such The Mistress of Spices by Paul Mayeda Berges from the UK in 2005 and Lies We Tell by Mitu Misra (2017), which gave him the opportunity to work with Gabriel Byrne and Harvey Keitel.
Thanks to these experiences, he became the only Indian filmmaker to become a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).
When asked if he was ever tempted to start a career in the United States or Europe, he says that he did have some opportunities, but opted to stay in his homeland.
The idea of uprooting his family, from where he lives in Pondicherry just didn’t feel right. His attachment to his country is too strong.
"The reason I wanted to start cinematography is that I wanted to film all these beautiful places I’ve seen [in India] and interact with the culture. I think one lifetime is not enough to justice to it. If I leave, I leave all of it."
Sivan admits he has always had more than enough to keep him busy in India, where he has worked with greats such as Gurinder Chadha (Bride and Prejudice, 2004) and Shaji N Karun, for whom he did camera work for the film Vanaprastham (The Last Dance), which was shown in Cannes at the Un Certain Regard category in 1999.
Cinematography is like music
One of his most challenging experiences was filming a sequence in the Bollywood hit Dil Se (1998) by Mani Ratnam, starring Shahrukh Khan.
Dozens of actors are performing the Bollywood hit Chaiyya Chaiyya, precariously on top of a moving train – an extremely difficult exercise done with very minimal equipment, he recalls.
"I try to treat cinematography like music, so my visuals have a sense of music. I try to create the melody with light and shade," Sivan says.
"With composition and camera movement, I try to create the rhythm. So when you have a blend of both together, I feel like the audience can be in tune with it."
So where does he continue to get his energy and inspiration after all these years behind the camera?
"As an artist, you have to grow both ways, like a tree. You have to have your roots going into the darkness of the soil so that the tree can climb high into the sky," Sivan says.
Making films comes from a mixture of sources, be it art, music, everyday life as well as keeping updated on technology.
Change is inevitable
"Change is inevitable," Sivan adds. "AI is also going to have a big presence for sure. So I think it’s up to us to decide when to use it. What we are trying to do is tell a story. When you point to the moon to look at the moon, there’s no point looking at the finger.
"So whatever the device that you have, the possibilities are there, if they help you look at the moon, that’s what we decide to embrace".
He says he is very enthusiastic over his latest project Zuni, about a 16th century poetess called Habba Khatoon, for which he showed a teaser in Cannes.
Sivan says it is an incredible opportunity to tell a unique, less well-known story about a singularly impressive woman who came from Kashmir, a part of the country that fascinates him.
He is also thrilled that India is well represented at the Cannes festival this year, no doubt opening doors for the younger generation.
All We Imagine as Light – a debut feature by Payal Kapadia is the first Indian film in the main competition in 30 years.
There’s also Santosh ,by Sandhya Suri, alongside The Shameless, set in India by Bojanov Konstantin, both in the Un Certain Regard category, while Sister Midnight by Karan Kandhari is in the Directors’ Fortnight.
