Lenin M. Sivam is highly a talented filmmaker, director, and storywriter. He is a self-taught storyteller who writes, produces and directs most of his movies by drawing on the skills and knowledge he gained from taking part-time filmmaking courses at Ryerson University. Sivam has a number of short films to his credit, including the award-winning A Few Good People (2006), the critically acclaimed Strength (2007), and the thriller Next Door (2008). His diverse and controversial body of work is well respected in the independent film community. His work has been recognized and has won many awards. Sivam’s movie 1999 marks his full feature directorial debut, and was recently screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Lenin Sivam also joined us at the Canadian Tamil Film Festival organized by CTYA’s Art and Culture Council where he awarded the “Best Short Film Award” and also served as a judge of Thaalam 20122011 Dance Competition. CTYA’s Blogs Team had an interview with Director Lenin Sivam. Let’s hear from Lenin Sivam!
Question. What made you decide to pursue filmmaking?
Lenin Sivam: I think films are magical and are an effective medium to get your vision across to a broad audience in a profoundly simple and personal way. Also they are windows to escape reality for me. I was always fascinated by powerful films and I had this unceasing dream of making good films myself.
Question. How has your success of your critically acclaimed film, 1999 changed you as a director and filmmaker?
Lenin Sivam: As a filmmaker it gave me a name. People take me seriously now. When you have a name, things become much easier in this industry. As a director, it gives me more confidence and it validates that I could hardly fail taking up a subject that is truly close to my heart.
Question. Please tell us a little about your upcoming film, A Gun & A Ring, and what inspired you to create this film.
Lenin Sivam: This film is about different seemingly ordinary people and how their paths cross during a two-week period in Toronto: a young man who attributes all of his failures to his dark past and tries to confront it; a detective who questions his integrity after making a wrong fateful call; a teenager who struggles to cope with his father’s cultural tyranny and the death of his lover; a good Samaritan who is too busy helping others to protect his daughter from harm; a hardworking man who struggles to find peace after the death of his only son; and a young victim of war who tries to find her place in Canada after being abandoned by her fiancé.
The production is complete and we are in the midst of post-production. I am pretty pleased with the production. This is by far the most ambitious film I have made and I am pretty excited about it. We are anticipating to release the film early next year. For more info you can check out Facebook site at www.facebook.com/aGunANDaRing
Question. When creating characters for your films, what shapes your creations?
Lenin Sivam: Most of the time, I don’t sit down and try to create my main characters, they sort of appear in my head. I’d get different hints and visions about the characters in my head. Then I’d toy with these ideas long enough that they develop into full characters and those characters eventually lead to a compelling story. This is how it all starts for me — pretty unorthodox. Character development is very important to me and I continually refine the characters until they fit my vision. But not all the characters in my films are shaped that way, only the main ones. I create the other characters based on the story’s need. For instance, if one of my main characters needed a good friend then I’d create that friend. I try to make all the characters unique and interesting in some way. In 1999, Anbu needed a good friend so I created Udumpan and I made him interesting by making him appear big and dump on the outside yet he is very intelligent.
Question. Could you share a funny or profound experience while creating Gun & Ring?
Lenin Sivam: There are so many funny experiences during this project and telling them might upset some of my crew so I will share a profound experience here. The last sequence to be shot for the film is in an outdoor parking lot at night time where the main character would approach a group of local thugs for a favor. Unfortunately, it rained heavily though out that night. Since it was the last day of the shoot, we couldn’t reschedule the shoot to another day as we needed to return all of our equipment and return to our regular lives the following day. So we decided to shoot the film in rain that night. Our plan is to put tents to cover the equipment and have the actors in the rain and play out the scene. Everyone was exhausted of the long shoot and no one really wanted to get out there and shoot in the rain. Right when we were about to step out into the rain to start that night, one of the guys from the art department proposed that we convert the building that we were in into an abandon warehouse and shoot the scene there. Everyone thought it was a great idea and we started converting this indoor cricket field into an abandon warehouse using the only things we could find in the facility. By 11 p.m. we clapped for the first take and we finished the shoot around 4 a.m. Now when I look at those scenes after editing, I couldn’t have asked for a better place. It looks much better than our original idea of shooting in an empty parking lot.
Question. You joined us last year at the Canadian Tamil Film Festival organized by CTYA and saw many short films created by Tamil youth, what advice do you have to say to those youth, and other aspiring Tamil youth filmmakers?
Lenin Sivam: CTFF screened some the best Tamil shorts around the world and I was very much impressed with the quality of work. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see many films from Canada and would’ve loved to see more participation from Canada. I’d strongly encourage our youth here to come out with unique films and take advantage of these festivals. These are great platforms to showcase your talent.
In terms of advice, I’d urge our youth to pay particular attention to the script and the acting. I believe these two areas are the most important parts of a film that require tremendous creativity but very little money. Don’t worry too much about all the other areas, if you have a great story and talented actors, the audience will forgive you for all the other mistakes you make.
Thank-you for joining us today and sharing your thoughts.
Lenin Sivam’s upcoming film, A Gun & A Ring will be released on September 5th, 2013. Check out www.facebook.com/aGunANDaRing and stay tuned for updates!
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