BGM 2017 News Banner

''WE LIFT OUR BABIES WHO ARE 15 KILOS; THESE CAMERAS ARE REALLY NOTHING''

Home > Tamil Movies > Tamil News Stories

By |
Cinematographer Neha Parti Matiyani talks about IWCC

On the just passed International Women’s Day (8th March 2017), there was an announcement about the formation of Indian Women Cinematographers' Collective-IWCC, comprising of Indian women cinematographers, which will showcase, encourage, celebrate and support their work and vision.

 

We talk to Neha Parti Matiyani, who, after having assisted renowned cinematographer Ravi K Chandran, had started on her own with films like Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge, Bewakoofiyan, Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania and Yamla Pagla Deewana 2. Her film with Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan, Badrinath ki Dulhania hits the screens today. Neha elaborates on this initiative:

 

“The idea was basically to get together women DoPs to encourage and support each other. We are a group of 70.

 

It initially started as an informal Facebook group in 2015 by senior cinematographer Fowzia Fathima which slowly increased in number. We decided to have an informal meeting in Mumbai. Twenty of us got together and we figured we were all having common concerns. We were all working in advertisements, Bollywood and South Indian films. We knew many girls who were wary of joining this profession as it is male dominated forever. The idea of all of us coming together was to showcase our work, try and inspire each other, and encourage new talents to join this field. In short, our aim is to basically celebrate and support the existence of fellow women cinematographers.

 

The Collective will celebrate the work of its members through social media, online press and printed publications to shine a light on the excellence of women cinematographers in the field and encourage more girls to consider; cinematography and its allied fields such as gaffing, grips and assistant cinematographers as viable professions.

 

Our industry is always liberal and supportive of us in the sense that they look at us in awe. The idea is to get away this surprise look of having to see a woman behind the camera. That is the objective of the group coming together. Even though we have enjoyed the privilege of being the only woman people have seen behind the camera, we want to take that away and want the world to look at us just like how they look at men DoPs. We don’t want to be seen as “Oh, you can lift such a heavy camera?” We lift our babies who are 15 kilos. These cameras are really nothing. 

 

We will soon start a website (www.iwcc.in) which will hold the work of all the women DoPs of the industry. It will also be a common platform to create awareness about so many women in this job. The website is under construction and will be functional soon. We basically wanted the announcement out on the Women’s Day about the group”.

 

IWCC members are affiliated to SICA, WICA and ISC and will work with these associations to create a healthy, harmonious working environment for women in the industry.

 

That’s wonderful Neha. Wishing the IWCC the best!

 

Jyothsna Bhavanishankar

 

Cinematographer Neha Parti Matiyani talks about IWCC

People looking for online information on IWCC, Neha Parti Matiyani, Women Cinematographers will find this news story useful.