AVI KABIR
“ON YOUR RADAR” IS A WEEKLY GRAD FILM NEWS SEGMENT THAT FEATURES A STUDENT PICKED AT RANDOM.
AVI KABIR IS CURRENTLY A 3RD YEAR STUDENT AT GRAD FILM. WE ASKED HIM A FEW QUESTIONS, AND HERE’S WHAT HE HAD TO SAY:
1. Where do you consider home and what is it like there?
Some days, I wake up with a story, as I scribble it I feel being at home. The days I am rummaging for an idea that could make sense, that’s when I am away from home. At some places home feels more anchored– the old familiar breeze that has been hugging me on grandpa's quiet roof or in a graffiti I painted a decade back saying "Inquilaab (Revolution) Rocks!" Home has been a state of mind, it is something I find and lose every day.
2. What is currently inspiring you as a filmmaker?
Eight years back, I am filming a documentary on an aspiring teenage rapper living in a shanty near open sewage, surviving each day doing the worst jobs. I am about to complete his last interview shot when, suddenly, he looks into the camera and asks me, "What are you going to do with this?" Unsure, yet, I answer, "Edit it all together, make it into a movie." But that was not what he wanted to hear. His question inspires me. I want to make films for the unheard voices and get them that good change in my lifetime.
3. What has been your most rewarding experience at NYU Tisch Grad Film so far?
Making mistakes while writing and filming! Don't get me wrong, it's painful when all the hard work goes kaput! But then this creates so much space to learn and do more. I cherish the collaboration from my friends who wake up early on the coldest morning in New York and are on the set. I am privileged to be pulled back from stasis by mentors who can always make more sense of my vision.
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