STIHL

The primary goal of this documentary film project was to finalise a short documentary shoot regarding forest conservation under a limited time period. There were various challenges regarding the permit application, custom clearance, the unpredictable weather, Terai’s heat and the unforeseen territory that the community forest in Jalthal provided. Recce and location scouting and accommodation arrangements were all made well before the arrival of the crew. The value of recce and location scouting was felt and highly appreciated later during the one set of hte documentary film project.

Due to the transition from COVID 19 lockdown to now the new world and the subsequent shift to accessing the applications provided by the Ministry of Communication of Nepal, the Film Development Board of Nepal and Defence Ministry of Nepal digitally, there were newfound challenges discovered while acquiring the permits; namely, the drone permit and the filming permit. However, the experience that the fixers at threemm films have garnered over the years helped complete this process as swiftly as possible with little to no room for error. The time of acquiring the permit was also unaffected by the change in the filming permit process.

The arrival of the crew from Germany brought along challenges of custom clearance which needed to be dealt with swiftly as the time frame between the incoming and outgoing flights was rather short as the entire crew had to travel to Bhadrapur, Jhapa the same day they arrived at the airport in Kathmandu. Since Jhapa was an unknown territory even to the local producer, the decision to send the vehicles from Kathmandu to Jhapa was made keeping in mind reliability and time. The quantity of the equipment being carried by the crew and the versatility of a four wheel drive were all considered while selecting the vehicles.

The very first thing that the crew felt as soon as they landed at the airport in Bhadrapur was the heat. The crew voiced their concern regarding this. Hence, the local producer made sure to carry ice boxes at all times, plenty of water, air-conditioning in the vehicles and a fully air conditioned hotel.

The importance of a local producer in Nepal lies in the fact that the country is multilingual, multi-ethnic and multi-religious. Hence, one of the services that a local producer/fixer at Threemm films provides is on location translation in order to bridge the gap between the foreign crew and the locals. It is not just about translating the words but also making the foreign crew understand the emotions behind those words and the culture at large.

The forest, to most of us, was very unknown, hence, dangerous but to the locals the forest was their source of food and income and a home where they were not afraid of uncertainties. It was, therefore, extremely important for the local producer from Threemm films to communicate this with the German crew. Being fluent in both English and Nepali was one of the main requirements of this project.