Carina Chavda Speaks to a Producer’s Connection
Written by Will Jones
Carina Chavda is a true believer, at least when it comes to making films. Communication and information is something of a family industry. Carina’s journalist mother modeled how impactful it was to connect with the public and raise their awareness. This lesson led to a fascination with film and its ability to portray emotion and experience rather than focusing solely on cold hard facts. Through documentaries and narrative films, she sees the potential for having a much greater impact than data and statistics. Carina professes, “I am a storyteller. I am one of those people that will cry out of happiness or sadness from a film. When I was a child, I would say that I wanted to be a journalist because every time I read something that moved me, I would fantasize about changing the world through my words. As I grew up and was exposed to the wonders of film and television, my mind started racing. This would be my contribution to the world. Telling the stories that are worth hearing. Stories that move people and create a change in their perception, that open minds and hearts to unlimited possibilities.”
The ability to tell a story in a compelling manner can be applied to any subject matter but one must possess the awareness to perceive the drama and/or the comedy in a way that resonates with an audience. Carina revels in the genre of documentary films which expose these elements within real people and events. Perhaps the most obvious link to her mother’s professional endeavors, films like Saving Saffron and Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp & The Biotech Revolution (collaborating with Award Winning Director Bill Haney and Oscar Nominee Mark Ruffalo) exemplify how Ms. Chavda is able to produce with the most compelling components visible on screen. As words on paper, the subject matter can seem unexciting; the effects of climate change on the saffron growing region of Kashmir (Saving Saffron) or the evolution of Biotech (Cracking the Code) might appear clinical on the surface. The skill of Carina and her collaborators is in exposing the humanity in these facts and events. She divulges, “Every time I begin the research process, it becomes clear that there’s so much more to the story than expected. Saving Saffron was a great example. Once we travelled to Kashmir, we felt the direct connection of the people and their situation. Manifesting this for a film is something that holds great meaning and great responsibility for me.”
Part of the allure of her career is working within a global community of creative minded professionals. Whether she’s collaborating with Academy-Award-Nominated sound designer Aaron Glascock on a tale of vengeance (I See You) or her most recent production What We Find on the Road with director Chaysen Beacham, the ability to depict the various shades of human condition is provocative to her. These two productions alone span the most divisive and connecting of situations; communicating to audience’s that we all have the ability to choose our own destiny. Carina declares, “As a producer, I feel it’s essential to connect deeply with the emotional spirit of the story and its characters. For me, producing isn’t just about managing logistics or bringing the creative team together, it’s about understanding the heart of the story so that every decision, from location choices to tone, pacing, and casting, aligns with its emotions. If I don’t feel something for the story, it’s hard to advocate for it with conviction or ensure that everyone on set is moving toward the same creative vision. Even though people go to theatres to watch films, and watch in groups and gatherings, watching a film is such a personal experience, what you take away from it is so important and so unique. What We Find On The Road, was my first narrative feature film, having been primarily focused on documentaries prior to this, this opened my eyes to the possibility of a different format of filmmaking that is creative and has endless possibilities. I once read a Quentin Tarantino quote that got me thinking, ‘If a million people watch my film, I hope they watch a million different films.’ This is all I can hope for in any film that I make.” In its festival run, What We Find on the Road has cast a wide net with its status as an Official Selection at such prestigious events as the Gold Remi Award WorldFest Houston International Film Festival, the Victoria Film Festival, and more in addition to awards from the Luxembourg Indie international Film Festival, and others.
The art of filmmaking, regardless of whether you are an actor, a writer, a director, or a producer, is rooted in connection that comes through empathy. Beyond her immense talent and skill, Carina Chavda is able to achieve this because of her own story. She relates, “I started my career in television at the age of twenty-one in a city that disguised itself as modern and progressive but which, still at the crux of it, didn’t respect women in the workplace. I learnt right out of college that nothing was going to come to me easy and I had to work harder and be better than everyone else. I worked in sports television surrounded by men who felt it was appropriate to comment on my clothes or my hair but just two years later I grew in my role and was leading the full production of a television show, proving women could be in charge, I then got accepted to graduate school in Boston. I was torn. I had a career, I was making good money, I had my family and friends and my dog who I adored…why would I leave all that for the unknown? But I did. It was the hardest decision ever but there is a drive inside me to keep learning, to keep getting better, to keep searching and that’s what makes me a better producer.”
