Cristiana Hanes, one of the three directors of A Rifle And A Bag describes her first time visiting a country so complex as India and stepping into an unusual environment as “scary” but three years of shooting made them settle in and be comfortable.
She met her co-directors while all of them were pursuing a masters in documentary directing from Europe. Even though they lacked funding, their coordination and mutual understanding made the process of making a documentary together smooth. They edited their documentary themselves while being in three different corners of the world and reviewed them together. Even though most of the time, the three directors would mutually agree on things, there were times when they went with the majority.
The directors made sure they were actively listening to their subjects, and briefed Somi and her husband before each scene, reminding them to not take any names of people or places since that could prove to be a threat to their security, but it was a hard aspect to tackle since names would often come up by the force of habit. Initially, they also faced a language but slowly overcame that by finding a middle ground and communicating in Hindi.
The weather and climate conditions also proved to be challenging while filming. Due to the heat, their camera would turn off in the middle of filming but winter was less challenging comparatively.
Isabella Rinaldi, co-director, describes her experience by recalling how she” kept aside” her expectations and made sure to welcome the new experience while Arya Rothe, co-director made sure that they kept a straightforward narrative and followed the script to ensure there was a flow while shooting. They edited smaller cuts to avoid piling of scenes and the burden of work.