An Interview With Filmmaker Veemsen Lama
Photo credit to © Bobby Pin & © Javiya Films
We were recently lucky enough to catch up with award winning British/Nepalese filmmaker, director and cinematographer Veemsen Lama. Veemsen is the founder and director of Javiya Films which is an independent filmmaking production company based in UK that makes short films, music videos, weddings, documentary and feature films.
Hi Veemsen it is great to finally meet you.
Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself and how you got into filmmaking?
Well first, thanks for giving me this opportunity to share a bit of my story with your readers. My name is Veemsen Lama. I was born in Nepal and moved to the UK when I was 18. I am a storyteller, a filmmaker, and a YouTuber. I make a new video and upload it onto YouTube every week (watch my YouTube Channel HERE) – they include short films, music videos, vlogging, etc. When I was in Nepal and still a kid, we used to watch many Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Van Damme films, which have had a huge influence on me and made me want to tell my own stories. Once in the UK, I had the opportunities to both study film and start making short films.
You have a good taste in movies, we love Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jean Claude Van-Damme!
What was it like setting up your own film production company, Javiya Films?
I’ve always wanted to have my own production company and when I was in film school it just kind of happened and I created my own brand, which I named after my daughter, Javiya. She is my lucky charm!
Your graduation short film, MAYA, has been nominated and won many awards, how did it feel to finally get your work recognized on such a large scale?
It felt great to win awards and be nominated and recognized at festivals thanks to our graduation film MAYA. All the hard work paid off! Both crew and cast deserved those pats on the back. MAYA is a very personal film to me. We were shooting the film 4 weeks before the earthquake in 2015. Some very important landmarks and buildings were captured in the film and unfortunately later destroyed by the earthquake.
We managed to capture things, places and moments that are today only memories, and they will always be a part of our film MAYA. I think this is mainly why this film is so special to us.
Having seen MAYA we can say it is a beautiful piece of work!
What were your experiences like working on Maya?
It was hard as our crew was half English and half Nepali, so communication was bit of a problem. We only had 5 days to shoot and there were multiple locations in Kathmandu and outside Kathmandu – nearly 2 hours drive away up in the hills. The crew was pretty big too (nearly 20 people) and it was the first time I had worked with that many people on set but it went really well. One night we were shooting until 5 in the morning and on the next day we were back on set at 11am. So of course, our sleep was compromised.
It sounds like a very busy shoot, but the hard work paid off.
Photo credit to © Javiya Films
Your latest project, Chyanti, is in post-production, how did you find filming and working in Nepal?
Chyanti was really hard to shoot and became a very expensive short film too. I wanted to capture the beautiful mountainous landscape because landscape is one of the characters of the film. We had to travel to a remote Nepalese village, which was a 10-hour drive from Kathmandu. Furthermore, there were no proper Internet connection, phone signals and electricity. Those really were the main challenges! And then, all of the sudden, the crew started to get altitude sickness and had to be evacuated by rescue helicopter. But it was worth it – despite of all those problems, we completed the shoot and returned to Kathmandu safely.
WOW! There was a lot of drama behind the scenes, I am glad everyone was ok.
What attracted you to the story by Sampada Malla?
It was my story but she did write the screenplay of the film. I wanted to emotionally confuse the audition. So when I was researching stories, I had this idea about relationships between animals and humans and started to create a plot that would make the audience feel for both sides.
How did this production compare to working on MAYA?
It was a smaller production but still nearly 15 people were involved. Budget wise, CHYANTI became twice more expensive than MAYA but I think CHYANTI’s story is better and so I hope it will do really well at festivals. The problem is the film has become nearly 30-minute long because there are some elements, which we couldn’t cut down by fear of losing the emotional factor.
Do you feel like you have learned a lot as a director from your experiences making short films?
I think I have and I am very much confident to direct a feature film. The process and the experience I gained from making nearly 14 short films both taught me many things. If I am not ready now, I don’t think I ever will.
Have these experiences helped you to grow as a director? If you could go back to these productions is there anything you would like to have changed?
There are many mistakes in my old short films but maybe those mistakes were necessary to make me realize that I need to learn more. Maybe that is part of the process to be a better director and storyteller. If I had to tell those stories again I would perhaps try to find better, more substantial stories – the ones that would get people emotionally involved. I would like to play with my audience’s emotions. I want to move them, scare them and make them think through my stories.
It is good to hear that you have grown over time as a director and taken something from your projects to improve yourself.
Photo credit to © Bobby Pin & © Javiya Films
Have you got any actors that you would like to work with?
Leonardo Dicarpio, Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth, Jackie Chan
Do you take any inspiration from any other directors?
Alejandro Inarritu, James Wan, Christopher Nolan have always been massive inspirations.
Have you got any upcoming projects you could tell us about?
We are in pre production of some horror projects at the moment and planning for drama films too.
It sounds like you continue to be very busy, which is always good.
What are your plans for the future?
Take CHYANTI to as many festivals as possible. I’d like to do a micro-budget horror feature to start with and see how it goes. I really want to do some British/Nepali drama in the Himalayas too, and who knows, if any other opportunities are knocking on the door, plans might change.
Good luck on the festival circuit with CHYANTI I am sure it will do very well.
Have you got any advice you could give aspiring filmmakers?
Technology has made our life much easier, allowing anyone to tell stories – whenever and wherever. So my advice would be: Don’t make excuses if you really want to make films – just tell your stories! Find the best story, the one that’ll get your audience connected and involved. If the story is poor, it doesn’t matter what actors have played or what cameras you have used, it will fail. Finally, don’t talk about it, just do it. Take action and action creates results.
That is some excellent advice Veemsen. I am sure all our readers will appreciate it and everyone can take something from your advice, no matter what level or stage in their career they are.
Anyone hitting the Film Festival circuit be sure to check out CHYANTI if you get the chance, you won’t be disappointed!
Great Article!! Veemsen Lama is visionary and a very talented director!
His Cast and Crew are extremely hard workers, dedicated and truly has the biggest heart in town. I’m looking forward to seeing Chyanti on the big screen next to a little golden statue. Namaste!