Dubai-based director Fokiya Akhtar is hoping her latest documentary can change the public’s perceptions of children with special needs.
Fokiya Akhtar trained in film production in her native India, and began producing films in her home country on graduation.
Many of her contemporaries have gone on to success in Bollywood – superstar Shahrukh Khan was himself a student of the same New Delhi institution – but the director has always been attracted to documentaries, and this is the path she has followed with her work.
She explains: “I like to make films about anything that interests me at that point in time. I often deal with social issues, but that’s not exclusive, I’ve made films on topics from the life of ants to the huge number of widows and orphans due to the ongoing crisis in Kashmir. The main thing that unites my films is that I like to go deeper into issues and hopefully increase awareness through the film.
“Ideally, I like to think that something should happen after my film has been made. If I can bring greater recognition to an issue through my films and encourage those who see them to try and bring about change, then I consider that a success.
My film about Kashmir, All Alone and Lonely, for example went to a number of international festivals and afterwards I was amazed how many people got in touch and told me that hadn’t realized this situation existed. That, to me, is a success.”
Akhtar’s latest film, Children of God, follows the lives of young special needs students at a special school in Dubai, The Special Needs Families (SNF) Centre.
Akhtar hopes to bring about the same raising of awareness through her latest creation: “I saw these special needs children and the work of the SNF centre and really wanted to do something. They’re just normal kids going about things the way they want to. They have dreams and aspirations the same as anyone else, and I wanted to put this across to audiences.”
Funding was a potential early hurdle, but Akhtar was determined that this should not be a problem: “Sometimes I’ve had commissions and grants,” she says. “But if a film interests me I will go ahead and fund it myself, which is what I did with this one.”
The fact that the film wasn’t about money or profit proved vital in securing permission from both parents and the centre itself to let filming take place: “There was some uncertainty at first, but when they saw how I met the children, spent time and learned about issue, and explained that I wouldn’t be using the film commercially but at festivals in the hope of raising awareness everyone was really helpful.”
Akhtar was also very clear about the type of film she wanted to make: “I wanted to make it realistic,” she explains.
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“I didn’t want any form to the story or voice over. I just wanted to show these people as they are. These children have special needs, they’re not abnormal, and they can be productive members of society. I want to show that to audiences, and I hope as well as the general public, parents and families in similar situations will be able to see that they are not alone.”
The desire to keep the film as natural as possible meant Akhtar ended up taking hours of footage. The shoot itself lasted around five months, from February 2011 till July of the same year, and Akhtar notes: “With no voiceover, I had to use the mic very effectively.
I had two mics on all the time when I was shooting, and I also never switched the camera off as I didn’t want any pre-decided shots, but simply wanted to take what happened naturally and tell a story through that. If that meant waiting for two hours for something to happen, then that’s what we did.
“A lot of the film features the parents talking about their children – the children tend not to talk much, and I didn’t want a narration, so a lot of the final product is shots of the children while their parents talk about them.”
As a result of this stylistic decision, editing was a mammoth task, as Akhtar concedes: “It was a big challenge – perhaps the hardest film I’ve done. I had two editors, and the first edit was the hardest, getting all those hours of footage down to an initial 70 minutes.
After that I still wanted to cut it further as I didn’t want to repeat myself, especially as often the lives of the children are quite repetitive. We eventually got it down to 39 minutes.”
As well as her two editors, Akhtar also had an associate director, cinematographer, and two production assistants on shoot with her, so a team of five was responsible for most of the shooting.
Akhtar adds that she initially intended to make the film about one student in the school, the daughter of its director, but as she got to know the children, and the way their lives intertwined, felt it would simply be impossible to focus on only one student, thus eventually producing a film about six students in the school.
The next stage for Akhtar, then, is to get the now completed film seen by audiences, and hopefully start to bring about the awareness and change she seeks: “I finished the film in December, and I’ve already sent it to the Gulf Festival and a big children’s film festival in India,” she says.
I’m planning on sending it to more festivals too, both in India and internationally. The Alliance Francais have also picked it up and will be screening it at a festival they’re planning later this year. The dates for that aren’t confirmed yet, but it was really pleasing as they took the film without seeing it on the strength of my previous film about Kashmir.
“I’ve also given the film to a distributor in India and they’ve put it on their website so it can be viewed by interested people all over the world. I think this is a better approach than putting it on YouTube, which I don’t do, as you have a more specific audience.
Beyond that, I’m also planning on screening the film at DUCTAC, and hope to be able to have a first screening around March, and I’m trying to arrange a screening at the Indian Consulate too. Of course I’m always on the lookout for any other screening opportunities.
“Currently I’m mostly relying on festivals, and any returns I can generate from festival prizes can be put towards my next project. Likewise I’ve had talks with Dubai TV about the possibility of them taking the film.
I don’t make these films for the money – I lecture at university as my main job, so film making is more like a hobby these days, but it’s something I could never be torn away from. It’s my passion and any returns I can generate that can be put towards future projects are welcome”
Kit list
– Canon5D
– Panasonic AG-AF101
– Libec LS38(2A) tripod
– Ianiro Kit No. 9 – includes set of three lights of 300 / 600 watts each
– Sony UWP-V1 (UHF Wireless Microphone Package)
– Final Cut
