Odia Filmmaker Lipika Singh Darai Chosen for BAFTA

Odia Filmmaker Lipika Singh Darai Chosen for BAFTA

While the Odia entertainment world has been under the clouds of negativity and controversies from the last few months, there are still hopes and good news coming from unmatchable talents from the state. Once again winning laurels for the state, Odia girl Lipika Singh Darai has made her place among the Ten up-and-coming people from the Indian industry who were chosen for BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts). 

The four time national award winner, Indian filmmaker, film director and sound recordist Lipika is now a part of this initiative, which has a partnership with Netflix. It’ll provide international opportunities for professional development and networking. Along with Lipika the other India participants for 2023 for BAFTA Breakthrough are Abhay Koranne, Abhinav Tyagi, Don Chacko Palathara, Kislay, Miriam Chandy Menacherry, Pooja Rajkumar Rathod, Sanal George, Satya Rai Nagpaul and Shardul Bhardwaj. On Wednesday (29th November), 42 names were unveiled, who were selected for this year. 

These successful Breakthroughs are eligible to receive full membership of BAFTA for a year including access to it's virtual programme of events and screenings for 12 months, one-to-one industry meetings, access to career coaching sessions and support with professional skills development, as well as global networking opportunities both with industry and peer to peer.

An alumnus of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Lipika belongs to the tribal community Ho from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district. Lipika's first National award was for Sound recording and design for her film school project "Garud". In 2012, she won the Best First Non-Feature Film ‘Eka Gachha Eka Manisa Eka Samudra’. In 2013 she got the national award for Best Narration / Voice Over for the film ‘Kankee O Saapo’ and in 2016 she got the national award for Best Educational Film, ‘The Waterfall’. ‘The Waterfall’, made for school cinema in English and Hindi, has been selected to be screened in seven hundred schools across India and other countries.

BAFTA is one of the world’s leading independent arts charities that brings the very best work in film, games and television to public attention and supports the growth of creative talent in the UK and internationally. Through its Awards ceremonies and year-round programme of learning events and initiatives, which includes workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures and mentoring schemes in the UK, USA and Asia. This is the first time when it has simultaneously introduced its UK, USA, and India participants globally. The ten names for BAFTA Breakthrough India were selected by a jury of industry experts, including Jury Chair and BAFTA Breakthrough Ambassador Guneet Monga Kapoor, Manvendra Shukul, Monika Shergill, Rajiv Menon, Naman Ramachandran, Sid Roy Kapur, Shaunak Sen and Ratna Pathak Shah.

BAFTA Breakthrough India Ambassador Guneet Monga Kapoorand Jury Chair, said. “There is no shortage of creative talent in India as demonstrated by the previous two iterations of Breakthrough. We had a tough time choosing ten deserving candidates from an enormous pool of fresh candidates. It will be exciting to see how they harness BAFTA Breakthrough's opportunities to hone their craft on a global stage.”

BAFTA Breakthrough is celebrating its ten-year anniversary this year. As an incubator for the industry’s future change-makers, BAFTA Breakthrough nurtures and celebrates peer-to-peer network building among a host of 121 meetings including with Danny Boyle, Paul Greengrass, Barry Jenkins, Martin McDonagh, Abi Morgan, Lesley Manville and Brad Pitt, among many others.

Lipika feels getting recognition from such a credible organization like BAFTA is surely encouraging. And filmmakers like her who don't belong to the mainstream but are doing their work worthy to be recognised, BAFTA is actually giving them that mainstream focus. 

She said, “Although most of the filmmakers like me are not much worried about getting the limelight, it is also true that people need to know what we are doing and what impact it does have on the craft and on the world altogether. So this is a big boost for us. In Odisha, there weren't many women making films, and there were hardly any women working in the film industry. Getting money locally and finding fresh ideas was tough. I didn't believe I could keep making films, but it's been 10 years, and I managed to do it. As I search for chances to work with others, I also want to help fellow filmmakers, especially women in my state."

“In January of this year one of my documentary films ‘Night and Fear’ (Rati o Bhaya) was in the competition section in the International Film Festival Rotterdam. When I visited there I got into a completely new world. Later I applied for their curated fund for films called Hubert Bals Fund for and I got it among the 10 film list. I am working on my next film titled ‘Birdwoman’ and I have got a script development fund of 10,000 euros for the same. We are planning to make it in two languages Odia and partly Ho. Of course fund matters but the recognition is something which allows you to fly high,” added Lipika who has recently completed a mid length fiction film ‘Such a Long Embrace of Life’

Supporters of the initiative in recent years include world-class talent: actors Emma Thompson, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Olivia Colman, Tilda Swinton, Zawe Ashton, Will Poulter, actor-producer Brad Pitt, directors Tom Harper, Nia DaCosta, Barry Jenkins and Asif Kapadia, game designers and developers Brenda Romero, Hideo Kojima, Tim Schafer, actor-writer Sharon Horgan, screenwriter Jesse Armstrong, writer-director Amma Asante and journalist Louis Theroux.

We at My City Links wish Lipika all the best for her upcoming projects. We hope she will continue winning in the world of filmmaking.

(With inputs from BAFTA’s official website)