 JANA NOLLE Stella Jung (right) prepares her equipment during shooting of Disqualifed |
Beads collect on the temples of an interviewee. The camera keeps rolling,and a tissue is handed. Behind-the-scene shots of Disqualified reveal the crew's sweat and effort in capturing the tangled reality of discharged Maoist combatants.
"I wasn't sure if it was possible to shoot there, if it would be supported or if they would be aggressive," says Jana Nolle, whose collegiate fieldwork inspired the project.
Nolle led the four-member crew (including co-director Stella Jung (right) and translators Suhit Dhakal and Pratibha Khanal) to Kailali on the day of the constitutional deadline on 28 May relying solely on personal funds and equipment.
"We had no budget, no car. Everywhere, we carried our equipment, bags with tripods and cables exposed, on rickshaws and microbuses," she recalls. The crew's equipment was limited to Nolle's Sony A1, Tescom voice recorder and MacBook Pro. Two local film and media collectives, DocSchool and Sattya, provided additional support, peripherals and workspace.
Nolle and Jung are currently in postproduction with plans for a 20-minute short retaining raw footage, produced in a frill-free format of honest imagery and dialogue. The style inspired by a new generation of documentaries like Lixin Fan's Last Train Home gives room for character development and observations of life played out in real time. The technique borders on conventional documentary and classic fiction film. Says Jung: "It's a different way of storytelling, not a typical narrative reportage with a monotone voice."
Reeling in politicos
 MARCUS BENIGNO Jana Nolle (standing) presents to CA members at ICPD last weekend |
Government ministers and CA members, including Maoist heavyweight Hisila Yami, the NC's Chakra Bastola and member of the Technical Committee for Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist Combatants Shambhu Ram Simkhada, reacted with tacit gravity, after watching clips from the short film Disqualified at the Institute for Conflict Management Peace and Development (ICPD) office in Baluwater last weekend.
Jana Nolle, director of Disqualified, was invited to present her documentary findings on discharged Maoist combatants as part of a two-day workshop. Veteran peace negotiator Ted Morse of USAID also took part. The screening spotlighted comments by Anup, a discharged Maoist combatant, who in one clip warns of the possible remobilisation: "What we have wished for when we joined this revolution has not come true. Unless these dreams come true, the war is not over. Prachanda said we have the weapons. And just like that, we are ready with our triggers at full cock."
NC members may have hoped the screening would demonstrate a rift in the Maoist party. Yami carefully skirted around questions from Nepali Times regarding the film. "It's a political issue," she said. "Within our party itself, there is disagreement among those who are not be able to grasp today's objective, those who fall back to the old ways of doing things and then there's one group who is always confused. The film is an effect of that confusion."
The muted reaction to the film during the screening does not seem to bode well for the future of the discharged.
Marcus Benigno
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Disqualified, MARCUS BENIGNO
Discharged Maoist combatants held in limbo
