Beyond Moving

A Must See A Wonderful New Documentary

 This film really spoke to me since I had planned to be a professional Ballet dancer at 14 but was struck down by polio in Mexico which changed my life.

The film and its powerful story reactivated the dancer in me even on a cellular basis. It is a lovely story of between world, of the driving force of dance and its truth.

Beyond Moving, a film by director Vikram Dasgupta, tells the incredible story of South African child prodigy and his move to Toronto to attend the National Ballet School tells the beautiful story of child prodigy Siphe, whose talents were immediately noticed in South Africa, and introduced to Canada’s National Ballet School.

In Toronto he embarked on a new life, training on his unique talents, and now graces stages the world over, with the kind of dance no audience has seen before.

Aside from the dancing in the film, the inspiring story and the keen eye of director Vikram Dasgupta, must be seen.

Vikram was born in New Delhi, India in 1977 into a family of artists, musicians, dancers and scientists. His biggest influence was his grandmother and her story-telling. He attended the prestigious Government College of Arts in Calcutta where he created a short docudrama titled ‘InSanity’ about a homeless artist on the streets of Calcutta. He graduated with a Major in Fine Arts, receiving an honors scholarship and a Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in the field of Art & Design. Soon after coming to Canada he was accepted into the Film program at Sheridan College (2001) and graduated with Honours. Vik founded design studio Pixel Palette Inc., in 2004 where he has been working as a creative head and director in Film/TV, and has had the opportunity to work with Indian musical genius AR Rahman (‘Slumdog Millionaire’) on multiple occasions. His commercial ‘Are You Ready’ for the Pan Am/Parapan Am TO2015 was nominated for a Cannes Lions (2015). His multi-award-winning narrative short film ‘Calcutta Taxi’, funded by CTV’s Bravofact and National Film Board of Canada was in consideration for an Academy Award (2014). Vik is currently based in Toronto.

Director Vikram Dasgupta was kind enough to answer a few questions from me about filmmaking:

Question:

What is the state of documentaries now?

A couple of months we had a well- known movie producer and director who said the industry was going toward Marvel comics and not toward quality films.

Answer:

I believe we are in the golden age of documentaries. I thinks part of it is because of the rise of visual content in the social media realm. There is just so much content out there that the audience’s awareness for what is ‘real’ and ‘genuine’ has gone up tremendously. Anything that seem ‘acted’ (be it fiction or non-fiction) doesn’t cut it anymore. They want to invest their emotions in real stories and be able to know or learn something new in the process as well, something that Documentaries as a genre has always provided.

I think there will always be a demand for all kinds of film (Marvel comics and otherwise) and I would give the audience more credit in that –  ‘we’ as an audience gravitate towards ‘story’ above all else, irrespective of the genre. If a film resonates on a personal and emotional level, they will invest their minds to it. “

Question:

I was wondering if docs had the same problem since there seems to be many good and strong docs being made and with more distribution.

Answer:

I’m not entirely sure if the issues are that similar. From my own little experience, documentaries pose a different set of challenges primarily because of its ‘unknown’ factor. No matter how strong and big the distribution machinery behind it, if the documentary is being done genuinely – we cannot really know for a fact where it is going to end up story wise. We can assume, predict and profess all we want but we are capturing life while observing it. I do understand that marketing plays a huge role in getting a film out there but in my experience, most distributors have asked me how my film ends, and I’ve never been able to answer that question with even 70% accuracy because I didn’t know how Beyond Moving would have ended. I don’t know how my next film DogMa will end. So I suppose the distribution will have to trust the story and the filmmaker’s ability to capture it.”

The Beyond Moving is now available across Canada through Blue Ice Docs new online viewing portal D.O.C.as well as in Toronto through Hot Docs Cinema website.

Dasgupta’s cameras capture, not only the experience of a prodigy caught between two worlds, but the fluidity and truth of storytelling via dance, as expressed in Siphe’s own philosophy and that of his teachers.

Dasgupta said he encountered Siphe while at Canada’s National Ballet School, exploring the possibility of making a film about inspirational dancers. 

“He was a 14-year-old kid,” said Dasgupta, “and my cinematographer pulled me over and said, ‘I can’t stop looking at this guy! He’s intimidating.’ The entire time I watched the monitor, it felt like this kid was looking directly into my soul.

“The other stories just faded away at that instant. Siphe was the story. Seeing Siphe evolve into this beautiful thing in front of my eyes over the years changed me. It changed the way I look at life.”

About Vikram Dasgupta

Vikram was born in New Delhi, India in 1977 into a family of artists, musicians, dancers and scientists. His biggest influence was his grandmother and her story-telling. He attended the prestigious Government College of Arts in Calcutta where he created a short docudrama titled ‘InSanity’ about a homeless artist on the streets of Calcutta. He graduated with a Major in Fine Arts, receiving an honors scholarship and a Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in the field of Art & Design. Soon after coming to Canada he was accepted into the Film program at Sheridan College (2001) and graduated with Honours. Vik founded design studio Pixel Palette Inc., in 2004 where he has been working as a creative head and director in Film/TV, and has had the opportunity to work with Indian musical genius AR Rahman (‘Slumdog Millionaire’) on multiple occasions. His commercial ‘Are You Ready’ for the Pan Am/Parapan Am TO2015 was nominated for a Cannes Lions (2015). His multi-award-winning narrative short film ‘Calcutta Taxi’, funded by CTV’s Bravofact and National Film Board of Canada was in consideration for an Academy Award (2014). Vik is currently based in Toronto.

 Sources and thanks to: Ingrid Hamilton (GAT PR) and Director Vikram Dasgupta