Of Indian Origin in conversation with Navroze Contractor
Multi-Award winning Cinematographer, Navroze Contractor is a huge contributor to the documentary world across the globe. He has been a part of many award winning films like The Legacy of Malthus by Deepa Dhanraj (Winner of Several International Awards), Limited Manuski by Nachiket Patwardhan (Winner of the National Film Award), Percy by Pervez Merwanji (Winner at Manheim International Film Festival), Love in the time of Malaria by Sanjiv Shah (Winner of the National Film Award), Last house in Bombay by Luke Jennings (Winner at the Bombay International Short Film Festival) to name a few.
A seasoned photographer, Navroze has won many one-man shows for his still photographs and a series of his shots of jazz musicians are in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC, U S A.
Navroze recently was the principal cinematographer for a short documentary film called Mr. Shanbag’s Shop which screened at the South Asian Film Festival in San Francisco, Annual Asian Film Festival of Dallas and the Asian American International Film Festival in New York City.
Currently Navroze is in the midst of several documentary projects and took a few minutes from his busy schedule to talk to Of Indian Origin:
Do you remember the first ever photograph you took, which made you feel like you have arrived?
NC: If I can remember so far back there were a lot of photographs that could be called like sketches. It is like when one is learning how to draw. I was struggling with exposure, developing and printing B&W and other technicalities that are a partof photography. Plus I was looking at the works and reading up everything I could lay my hands on about photographers of the world. I don’t really remember one picture that made me feel that I had arrived.. it was a body of work put together.
Continue reading the entire interview here