Capturing emotions as first-time voters get their fingers inked

It’s ‘roll, camera and action’ that gives German filmmaker Till Hastreiter the kick, and this time, the Indian election fever has caught his attention.

The director of films such as ‘The Forbidden Girl’ and ‘The Breeder’ is now in the City to shoot a documentary that aims to capture the reactions of first-time voters. 

“This time, I understand that there are around 150 million young voters in the country. This is more than the population of my country itself,” exclaimed Hastreiter, adding that the same drew him to capture the ambience.

Hastreiter is presently conducting a 15-day workshop at the Suchitra Cinema and Cultural Academy in association with Goethe Institute. 

The workshop aims to portray the emotions and opinions of first-time voters in the City and has over 20 participants from across various walks of life. “While a few are hardcore filmmakers, a few others are from the IT field and media,” said Murali, one of the participants. 

Murali explained that the team is currently shooting in Bangalore and would go to Mysore on April 20. “We have begun interacting with voters in the morning. Later, even the post-election mood would be captured and compiled into a documentary,” he said. 

Hastreiter explained that they would begin by speaking to first-time voters even before they vote and also follow up on them to understand what they felt post-election. “On Thursday, we will have teams across the City to interact with the youth. We will also keep tabs on the same later,” he added. 

Speaking to the youth it was understood that they were driven predominantly by what the media had portrayed, the filmmaker opined. He also spoke about the role that election campaigns played. “I have been to a few campaigns. There are silent ones, there are others where people are screaming on mikes. I have also had encounters at a personal level,” he said. 

Hastreiter said that the aggressive campaigns may help in certain cases but in other cases, he remarked that it might lead to the opposite.

 “The same punchline said over and again gets very boring. Some parties might feel that it is good to do what is promised. However, from the young voices it is evident that they want someone reasonable,” he added. The documentary, once compiled, would have a public screening.