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Student filmmaker Bollywood-bound

December 13, 2005

Senior David Kahn, a film studies and self-designed South Asian studies major, is Bollywood-bound. He's spending winter break in Mumbai (Bombay), India producing and directing a short film feature. It will have him doing overseas casting, equipment rental, crew hiring, budgeting, scriptwriting, filming, editing, music composition and music licensing.

The film, coincidentally, is about an American film student who travels to India to make a film. "When he arrives he becomes enchanted by the country, the culture, the magic - and his life becomes a Bollywood film," Kahn said. "It's an interesting cross-cultural look at the global phenomenon that is the Indian film industry, and a satirical commentary on what we known as 'Bollywood'."

The film is currently titled "The Bombay Project," and is complete with song and dance sequence. Kahn is teaming up with another student, Dwight Schultz, a senior at Syracuse University, who is one of the three lead actors and the screenwriter. The project is Kahn and Shultz's joint senior honors thesis. "This project is something that Dwight and I have always dreamed of doing," Kahn said.

The project is intended for educational purposes, and will be released directly to DVD upon completion in May 2006. The film will be recognized at Connecticut College's annual film festival in March 2006, and there will be a grand premiere of the film at the college at the end of the spring semester.

Kahn has produced numerous student films, including "Beeswax," winner of the Mount Wachusett Community College "Best High School Video in New England" award. He has served as an assistant editor for "Spike TV" and worked on a documentary for the Mystic, Connecticut Historical Society. Kahn is also co-chair of the Connecticut College Asian/Asian American Student Association (CCASA) and was technical director and production designer of the recent Diwali dinner.

Kahn previously participated in a Connecticut College Study Away Teach Away (SATA) program to India, and helped initiate a partnership between CCASA and the rural Victoria Matriculation School (VMS) in southern India.

"The Bombay Project aims to be a unique cross-cultural film, bridging East and West in a way that can be appreciated by everyone," Kahn said.

Visit the CCASA site and the film studies program site.

For more information contact: Amy Martin (860) 439-2526; a.martin@conncoll.edu