Meet Indy Saini | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Indy Saini and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Indy, what do you want people to remember about you?
I come from a multi-cultural background. My father immigrated to the US in the 1950’s from India as a specialist in economic agriculture, my mom originally from the south became a fashion designer in NYC. In my household, the terms diversity and tolerance were part of my vocabulary from early childhood. As was the realization that there wasn’t enough visibility in media for women, or people of color.

Before I began my career as a filmmaker, I produced many years of theatre in New York City. And throughout all of these years as an artist my mission has been the same: to share stories that show the complexity of women’s lives, that question stereotypes and push the conversation about who we are and how we relate to one another. There is a lot of grey area and nuances in our complicated lives on this planet and it’s important to explore that and talk about it. Too often everything gets pushed towards simple perspectives, and that limits our understanding of each other. Through my work, I want to encourage curiosity and conversation. And in the long run, with my art, I hope to be a part of the shift towards seeing each other more like ourselves.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Making a film is a massive undertaking. Even a short film. And when one is just starting out, you need to be incredibly persistent and resourceful. It’s not something you do just for fun. It’s a passion driven by something deep and unexplainable. Something that compels one to create and tell that particular story.

I’ve had this driving force since I was a teenager and have now been in the film business for going on 20 years. It’s been a slow evolving road as I’ve grown as an artist, discovered what my voice is a filmmaker, and learned the art of finding a team of like-minded creative professionals to collaborate with towards a singular vision.

It’s challenging and hugely competitive to get films financed and get people on board to create what you are passionate about. I’ve had many false starts with scripts and docu-series that I’ve pitched or submitted. Making it to the final round of consideration at Nat Geo or Sony without the green light. But these days, we can go out and make stuff on smaller budgets and still create work we believe in.

I recently completed a feature length documentary about women motorcycle riders, “Women in the Front Seat,” featuring women who not only drive their motorcyles but drive their lives.  It’s my first feature length film and my first in depth documentary. I’ve been a motorcycle rider since I was 22 years old and I’ve been wanting to make a film about women riders for more than a decade, exploring both fiction and real life stories. This project came about from a solo cross country trip I did on my bike following a dream I’d had for a long time. I got a camera, and filmed the women I met along the way. The ride itself was incredibly challenging, traveling with the camera equipment with limited space on my bike and riding through all kinds of unagreeable weather.

But even more so on a personal level, combining doing my first big solo ride and making my first big film project really put my trust of self and my belief in my creative sensibility to the test. Over the course of the ride and the film I had to let go of control. As situations arose I needed to act more instinctually, filming the unfolding stories before me, and responding to riding with different types of riders and in new terrains I was unaccustomed to. As I continued on the journey, my confidence grew and my skills grew. But what was most impactful to me was discovering the beauty in being messy. I didn’t need to have all the answers before starting out. And not everything works. And that’s OK. It’s necessary to roll with that and keep on going, improvise, adapt, jump on plan B, then plan C. Just keep going and you’ll get somewhere.

I’m excited now to be moving on to my next project. Still within my mission, it’s about finding connection, navigating complex relationships, and of course will feature strong women characters.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I were to create a week long itinerary of my favorite go to places for a friend visiting from out of town, it would look like this:

Always at the top is Griffith Park Observatory, especially right before sunset. It’s great to walk around the outside of the building to see the views towards the ocean and downtown while it’s still light, to watch the sunset across the city, then check out the stars with their super telescopes.

I always check out what’s happening at the Ahmanson Theatre downtown. It’s a mid-sized theatre so a variety of shows from dance companies to stage dramas are featured there. And any evening at the Ahmanson starts and ends with a visit to Kendall’s Brasserie, for a glass of French wine and their escargot before and an artisanal cheese plate after!

Harvelle’s in Santa Monica is my favorite go to for music. They have live music, Blues and R&B, every night (except for the burlesque show nights). It’s a small venue with a tiny dance floor, so you are right up close to the music. Always a fun lively time with phenomenal musicians.

Huntingdon Gardens is a must see. It’s incredibly beautiful and peaceful. There are so many places to sit and take in the unusual landscaping from around the world, write in a journal and reflect. Andy every visit when possible includes the Rose Garden Tea room, that is a special delightful treat for anyone who enjoys English tea with all its elegant perks.

For the more off the beaten path afternoon, we would do a self guided street mural tour around Venice. There are many super cool multi-story murals all around the neighborhood and the online self guided tours offer a lot of information to add to the experience.

Another of my favorites is the Getty museum. They always have interesting rotating exhibits, and the architecture is imposing and impressive, but what I love most is to take a picnic lunch, or buy something at their cafe’s and sit on the sloping lawn with the amazing views of LA and the ocean next to the tree-lined stream and azaleas.

We would drop into the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) which is great for both their exhibits and special events, but also a pleasure to walk around the outdoor sculptures and pop in for a drink and snacks at Ray’s & Stark Bar. They have a large assortment of unusual and interesting sparkling water choices and they do delicious specialty cocktails. My favorite is the Ginger Rogers, with gin, mint, ginger ale and lemon juice. Oh so good.

I am a big fan of Hatchet Hall on Washington Blvd, for small plates that are beautiful in their presentation and often combine unique pairings of ingredients, and great cocktails. They have a bartenders choice option, which when giving your alcohol interests can result in something unexpectedly wonderful.

And finally we would hit the Broad museum downtown, which has a super fun permanent exhibit that includes those large famous balloon art sculptures by Jeff Koons, and furniture so big you can walk under it. Combined with lunch or dinner next door at the fabulous Otium restaurant. Every dish I’ve had there is delicious, but I especially have enjoyed the spicy tequila cocktails. One actually came with a burnt marshmallow – so divine.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I always wanted to make films and be a part of the movie industry. But I also had a love for the theatre and that amazing energy shared between the performers and the audience. So I started my career in the theater. But eventually I did a one year film program at a not-for-profit organization in New York City called Film/Video Arts. I took a screenwriting class as part of that program and bonded with the other amazing writing students. We all got along so well, following the class we decided to make films together. Our philosophy: everyone needs to develop their art by doing it, so we started “Practice Space Productions.” We all wrote, and crewed on each others short films, supporting one another’s ideas and helping each other to learn and grow.

It also gave us an opportunity to learn about all the different aspects of being on a set because we rotated between the different set responsibilities. This has served me so much over the years. When I work on small crews, I can jump in wherever needed, and sometimes on my own projects I need to wear multiple hats. And it all goes back to what I learned from Practice Space.

I became especially close with one of our members, Steve Heffner. We had similar desires as filmmakers and also battled similar demons, those voices that hinder and question how and what we are doing…and whether we can do it all. When there were lulls in my creative efforts, I would hear from Steve asking how my writing was going, did I need help with anything? He ended up focusing on editing and became an award winning documentary editor, most recently with a wonderful heartwarming film that premiered at Tribeca called “The Dog Doc.”

Steve pushed me to believe more in myself than I did. When I would start a project, we would brainstorm together about what the core of the story was and he would help me whittle down my thoughts. When I started my recent women’s motorcycle project, I anticipated doing a short web series profiling women riders. Steve edited the first teaser before I even filmed the majority of the principal photography. At that time he already started to say to me that he saw this as a ‘long form’ project. I kept denying it and focusing on the web series idea. After finishing the filming and cutting together a rough 7 episode series, Steve still insisted that it would be better as a ‘long form’ documentary. It took me a year and a half before I saw it myself.

My dear friend Steve, during the following year was diagnosed with cancer. Always full of humor, love and generosity, every time I talked to him he asked about the film, and told me he was going to give me feedback soon, right after the next round of radiation. He wasn’t able to see the final film that he inspired me to make. But his belief in me, my work, and my creativity will always be a huge part of who I am, and I am grateful for having him in my life.

Website: https://indyksaini.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indyksaini/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndyKSaini/

Other: https://vimeo.com/indysaini imdb.me/indysaini https://www.womeninthefrontseat.com/

Image Credits
Lori Kallestad