Day 2 of the festival saw Nandini and I splitting up. She was a trooper and stayed home to work on grant/legal things, while I played the care-free fool and spent the day listening to the amazing Mira Nair. Ms. Nair was at the fest to give a talk on short films, so this wasn’t anything I was going to miss. She loves the form and has made a ton of shorts, some of whcih she showed during her talk. She has a lot of energy and a very “no bullshit” style of planning, directing & teaching, so the day was more like a class than a boring-old “let me talk about fabulous I am” film talk. 
Favorite quotes from Ms. Nair’s talk:
“I am devoted to the idea of making things, and to the rigor of creating short films.”
“Short films [give you] the chance to play with something that’s burning you up.”
“Short films give you the chance to work with actors and crew that you love.”
“Filmmaking is all about pre-planning and not losing the playfulness.”
“Making a film is an incredibly brave thing to do. Unfortunately, to be brave comes with pain.”
After her talk on short films, we watched Ms. Nair’s seminal film “Salaam Bombay!” which I had never seen. It’s a beautiful, beautiful film, but not for the faint of heart…
We ended Day 2 by eating in and gong to bed early, as the following day would be… our world premiere…
