From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Saltzman’s mother, Deepa Mehta, is a filmmaker who attempts to shoot the final installment of her trilogy, Water (after Fire and Earth), in India. In 1999, the author, then 19, accompanies her mother to work as a third assistant cameraperson. A series of politically motivated attacks shut down the film’s production. Four years later, shooting restarts in Sri Lanka, with Saltzman onboard as a still photographer. With the film’s production as …
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Tags: Chances, Family, Filmmaking, Memoir, Second, Shooting, water
This review is from: Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking (Hardcover)
In late 1999 when the author was almost twenty her filmmaker mother Deepa Mehta invited her to come to India to work as a third assistant cameraperson on her new controversial film Water. SHOOTING WATER: A MEMOIR OF SECOND CHANCES, FAMILY, AND FILMMAKING chronicles this season where mother and daughter worked to repair a strained relationship affected by divorce and separation. The fallout of such a relationship was to affect not just their relationship but Saltzman’s own choice of religion (Hinduism and Judaism), culture (Indian and Canadian) and more. Anticipate a revealing story in SHOOTING WATER which covers not just the art of filmmaking in India, but how families are separated and come back together. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch
This review is from: Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking (Hardcover)
I read this book straight through in a day and a half. A beautifully written account of the shooting of the film Water, the author’s relationship with her family, and her life experiences, the narrative invokes powerful images, sounds, and emotions. The book recognizes the imperfections, the struggles, the injustices–in the world, in relationships–and is ultimately hopeful and uplifting.
This review is from: Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking (Hardcover)
Shooting Water by Devyani Saltzman is the touching story of the making of the film Water of which Ms. Salzman’s mother, Deepa Mehta, is the writer/director. The film documents the deplorable life of widows in India in the 1930’s. The shooting began in Benares, India’s most holy city where many of these widows lived. However, within a couple of days dangerous demonstrations shut down the production and four years later the film was finished in Sri Lanka. The book documents the events surrounding the shooting while the mother and daughter team work out the stresses and pain of a lifetime between them, since Devyani chose to live with her father after her parents divorced. The struggle with the film-making parallels the struggle with their hearts, and as they resolved the production problems they also resolved their relationship pains. It is a touching book, timely, as the film is just being released in the U. S