We have oftentimes heard in the media that representation matters. Yet it is important to know what this truly means. We can always relate that storytelling and great movies are part of our lives even when we are at our busiest. Most of us have our favorite TV shows or films that we look forward to watching because of how great we can relate to the characters in the film or how the story speaks to us on a personal level. This article we will be analyzing why representation matters as well as areas where storytelling has brought to life the truth of many people we have oftentimes misunderstood. And at the end we will also be introducing an artist that has been responsible for great representation and amazing storytelling. This is what we are about at New Yorker life and we’re very excited to present this artist to you.
Our Connection to Stories Are Deeper than we Think
When we think about our favorite stories and movies, there are so many aspects that go into filmmaking which help us love stories and connect to it personally. But it is oftentimes the story that sticks with us even after the movie is finished. What’s more amazing is the characters that portray something deep and how great they show us different aspects of the human condition and how human connection is so important. Some of the greatest inspirations are based on psychology and philosophy that make the connections between characters even more powerful as well as their effect on us, the audience. But what happens when we don’t hear the truth about all people in the world?
Well, it can be overwhelming to think about the stories of everyone in the world. Every person has their own unique story, and it would be almost impossible to try to learn about all the stories that exist in this world. However, it is always amazing to know more and more about people of this world, especially people we hardly know about or hear about from the media. Undoubtably there is a level in which we relate to the story or specific character in the film that makes us believe that we are heard and seen, and we are also important, even though that story may not be directly telling our story and who we are. When specific people in society go to find stories that tell other people about our experiences and what we have gone through it is one of the greatest feelings that any person can experience. And that is why representation matters because that is how we know we are seeing and heard.
True Representation Happening in the Film Industry Today
But it isn’t always as easy as we think it should be. There are many people in the world that are underrepresented or misunderstood because of the way that their truth is not told they authentic way. When they are included in stories and films this is where many film makers, storytellers, artists, and writers try to represent people of their own kind harder to give right answers and more authentic understanding different people in the world. There is an artist that you should know has been working hard and achieving representation of different people. His name is Dip Mazumder. He reflects that one of the causes he deeply cares about is South Asian representation. Dip is a writer, filmmaker, cinematographer, and producer. We will be talking about his work in this article today.
Dip Mazumder and his Impressive Accomplishments
Dip is currently an associate producer with Turner Classic Movies. He works on many different production projects, and he has had cool opportunities to film conversations with a lot of important filmmaking figures such as Steven Spielberg, George Clooney, Paul Thomas Anderson, and many more. TCM classic Film Festival is a part of Warner Brothers discovery which is one of the biggest companies in the world. Dip is also working on his own films and personal projects and his most recent one was Let’s Be Heroes, which was a short film. He was the cinematographer for that project, and he had the opportunity to work with Action Film Studios which is a very big production studio. Some of their clients include Coca-Cola Chick-fil-A, Twitch, and many others. His most important project was his own film which he wrote, directed, and produced. It was a short film called Here and Now and received a lot of great recognition from festivals. It was an official selection at the Charlotte Film Festival, The Longleaf Film Festival as well as the DC South Asian Film Festival. It was a semifinalist at The Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival and a finalist at the New York International Film Awards. Dip reflects on this short film very strongly mentioning how it was a turning point in his career. He says it involved looking deeply into his own journey and being truly vulnerable when he was bringing that story to life and writing it down for the first time on paper. The story is laced with true authenticity, sincerity, and compassion and Dip also mentions how it allowed him to collaborate with some fantastic creators who brought their strong creative vision. He is also grateful for the support of his mentors which enabled him to create a film that he is truly proud of this showcase the kinds of stories that he wants to tell and bring to the big screen.
Dip believes that it takes more than a person to deliver representation and when he worked on two different projects as the cinematographer for The Last Job and The Dragons, he had the opportunity to work with Suraj Savkoor and Sidharth Singh. Dip mentions how fulfilling this experience was as these directors collaborated with him and challenged him to capture their vision and deliver it in its most unique, engaging, and dynamic form. Dip did so by employing some of his own very amazing techniques like extreme wide-angle lenses and steadicam. In his own words Dip says “I find my purpose in finding stories that resonate with the authentic human experience and amplifying them into this world.”
