If unofficial sobriquets could be turned official, Michelle Satter would be called the ‘Godmother’ of creative cinema. Over the last 31 year since she became the Founding Director of the Feature Film program at the Sundance Institute, she has mentored some of the greatest minds of cinema; Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Darren Aronofsky included. Now she has set eyes on India with Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab 2012 where she will groom, nurture and guide 8 scripts.
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| Michelle Satter at a press conference in Mumbai |
Yet there’s nothing in her genteel voice and demeanour to suggest that she has been such a strong influence on cinema without ever having made one herself. “I have learned from every filmmaker who has come through Sundance and have been moved by them and their stories,” she told IANS.
Her humility however is laid bare when one reads what her ‘students’ have to say about her. Aronofsky says: “Michelle has always had the most-sensitive ear and heart-warming words. Her early encouragements made me feel invincible.” Anderson, meanwhile says, “Michelle was firm and loving and gentle and intelligent in her advice… She changed the course of my life and I don’t know where I’d be without her.”
She confesses, “I love the creative process. It is extraordinary to be working with an artist at a time when you can have the greatest impact on their stories, to engage with them in dialogues where voices have been strengthened and where there often has been confusion but where wonderful directors have emerged. At Sundance our job has been to support the vision of the artists and to help them connect with their audience.”
And after 31 years of existence and of an extended presence in a lot of countries, she and Sundance are in India for the first time and she is excited about it. But why this delay?
“We have finally found partners with whom we can associate for a long time. This is just the beginning of a process where we believe that if you support the next generation of artists, the world audiences would be enriched by that,” she says.
Michelle has always been enthralled by the vibrancy of Indian cinema and the many voices that exist here. She plans to make the Sundance association with India, long term. “We support our artists the year round as the lab only becomes the beginning of the relationship. In India we hope to continue supporting these artists and their projects on an ongoing basis,” she said.
She agrees that not all films tutored under the lab in India would be made. “What is more important is that we will change the craft of the artists and we’d have helped them find their own individual voices. And if not this film, then the affect will be seen in the next. It’s an ongoing process,” she says.
She is upbeat about the Indian scripts. She is particularly enthused about Shonali Bose’s screenplay ‘Margarita. With a Straw’. “Shonali is bold and has great courage. ‘Margarita…’ is a beautiful screenplay, very moving and comes from a very personal space,” she says. Asked if she believes it has the potential to become the next ‘My Left Foot’ in terms of scope and she says, “Yes, it could.”
But how does a writer in a remote corner of the world create cinema that touches the world. Michelle says, “I strongly feel that stories that are specifically set in time and place and in characters, with details that are authentic, such stories have universal appeal.”
(This feature was written for the wire service IANS, finally appearing as these:
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