Philip Lee, the iconic producer of “The Revenant”, “Crouching Tiger” and “The Dark Knight”, says he does not allow success to overpower his humility as his aim is to keep working hard.
Lee, who visited 10th NFDC Film Bazaar here on Wednesday, told IANS: “I never consider myself as a successful person. I am not being humble but this is true. It is not good for my soul to say that I am successful.”
Though Lee is academically explored a lot and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Directing from the College of Arts at Nihon University in Japan, a Diploma in Management of Executive Development from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a Master of Fine Arts in Producing from The American Film Institute (AFI) and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, he went through a hard way to reach curve his niche.
“I started off working at the back office of a film company where I used to do paper works… However, one day I went to my boss and asked if I can change the department, as I wanted to get in to the creative process of filmmaking.
“Since then I am doing what I wanted to do. I work hard so that I can continue doing my work passionately. This industry is very challenging!” he shared.
Lee says that he wants to explore Indian films and this is the reason why he is in the country.
“Well, one of the reasons I am here is to get a better exposure of Indian films because I did not watch them so far. The Indian market always fascinates me. Therefore, if I can collaborate, it would be great.
“Film is the very important medium to get expose to the culture of any country. You know, in fact I was trying to make an Indian movie with a friend of mine here eight years ago. However, it did not happen then, it might happen this time,” he said.
The producer is going to conduct a Master Class at the NFDC Film Bazaar on Mounting and Positioning the Epic across Cultures.
And he is excited.
“When they told me I have to take a ‘Master Class’, I was like, hey don’t call me a ‘Master’, I just want to share my journey with youngsters. I learnt from mistakes as I have seen cross-over culture and projects. I just want to share all that in my class,” he said.
(The writer’s trip to Goa has been sponsored by NFDC Film Bazaar. Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at [email protected])
By Arundhuti Banerjee
