He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune and, likewise, surprised and irritated the festival visitors with his graduation film “Shri Baron von Desquamat & Conqueer the Great”. Jens Carl Daugbjerg talks about living in India and about his movie. I can highly recommend watching it this evening, by the way.

You studied at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. How did that happen?

It just kind of happened, I didn’t really plan that. I had studied in Stockholm before but didn’t want to continue. I went to Bombay to work in the film industry there. Then I applied for the school in Pune without really expecting something. I was really surprised when they told me that I’d been a ccepted as a student.

How is it to study there?

Regarding the studies itself it’s basically the same as at any other filmschool in the world. The school is based in Pune, about a three- or four-hours drive from Bombay into the Western Gats. During the “Golden Age of Hindi films”, if you want to call it like that, back in the 1930’s there has been a filmstudio at that place. Later on, the school bought the buildings and eventually moved there from Delhi in the 60’s.

You lived in India for four years. Can you describe that experience?

It was very intense, unlike anything I had known. I started questioning things that I had taken for granted before. At the same time I have realised that I never successfully integrated myself into the society. I really had problems with the hierarchy in India, people are respected only because the system requires it, regardless of whatever person they may be.

Your movie “Shri Baron von Desquamat & Conqueer the Great” is not really understandable. What is it about?

In the beginning there actually was a story, but we cut everything in pieces. The film was made at the end of this wild period in India, and I think it’s basically conveying an emotion. When I started thinking about what I was going to do for my graduation movie I had the choice to make a film that would be adequate for applications in either India or Denmark, or to commit “commercial Harakiri”. I decided to do just what I wanted, tried to free my mind and to lose control. I saw the movie screened for the first time at the festival here, as I had to leave India before the whole work had been done and I realised, that it can’t be understood 100%.

How did your friends who worked with you on the film react when they learned what you were planning to do?

The cinematographer was really happy, because there are a lot of strong, colourful pictures in “Shri Baron”, and so was the sound engineer. My editor just said: “What is this?”, but in the end she has done the most work, she also produced the film. Sandra Dias was fantastic! The four of us found each other pretty early at the beginning of our studies, and we kept working together. It’s a very mixed group, a Catholic from Bombay, one from Kalkota and one from Kerala, people from every corner of the country and from all social layers. Just like India itself.

You’ve been back in Denmark since February this year. Are you currently working on a new project?

I’m thinking about different projects. For instance, I want to do a documentary about a place called Surat in the state of Gujarat, north of Bombay. That place is the trash can of the West. Whenever there’s an old tanker, that can’t even be given away to a developing country, it is sent there and cut into pieces. The place is extremely polluted and the people working there get highly intoxicated. The problem is the funding. Of course, I could try to get EU-money to produce a documentary for EU-people, but I actually want to reach an Indian audience. I do not feel equipped for that, though. It’s a very complex society and I haven’t fully understood it.

Thank you very much for the interview and good luck for your projects.