FILM INTERVIEW: GREGG HELVEY 'KAVI' PRODUCER/DIRECTOR
Acadamey Award Nominee Discusses His Short Film & The Incentives for Change
It has been a long, hard, arduous journey for filmmaker Gregg Helvey, but the USC alum cannot complain too much about his struggles to make a name for himself in two of the world’s biggest cinematic industries.
After all, producing a film on modern-day slavery in India tends to
put perspective on one’s life, especially for someone as privileged as Helvey – a young man fortunate enough to earn his graduate degree from the University of Southern California and pursue his dream career as a filmmaker.
Accordingly, Helvey decided to make use of his film-making talents not only to show how fortunate many of us are but also to shed light on some of the unjust pain tens of millions of people are currently enduring in India and the world.
In producing, directing and writing a 19-minute fictional documentary entitled Kavi, Helvey hopes his USC thesis film will be an eye-opener, and with the flick’s entry into the Best Short Film (Documentary) category of this weekend’s 82nd Academy Awards, the brief movie may just be getting the attention it so aptly deserves.
“It’s a 19-minute fictional film about a young boy in India who wants more out of life than work,” Helvey said about his thesis film, which he also plans to turn into a full-length feature. “Kavi wants to play cricket and go to school, but instead he is forced to work in a brick kiln as a modern-day slave. Kavi will be the first fictional film of its kind to expose the reality of ‘bonded labor,’ a form of modern slavery.”
Indeed, the issues of “bonded labor” and “modern slavery” were exactly what Helvey wanted to introduce audiences around the world to.
“I was so rattled by the thought of modern-day slavery that, when I had the opportunity to make a masters thesis film at (USC), I wanted to move audiences just as I was moved,” Helvey said about his film. “I wanted to make the most of my film by telling a good story, transporting the audience to a different world and raising awareness about an important issue.”
With that, Helvey hopes his film’s Oscar nomination will inspire action among his colleagues in Hollywood. If such inspired action indeed occurs, then Helvey would truly walk away a winner from this year’s Oscars, even if he does not have a golden statuette to show for it.
“The Oscar nomination is a dream-come-true. However, there’s more to Kavi than just a film,” he humbly stated. “It’s important to me that this issue of modern-day slavery gets recognition. This is a pivotal time to raise more awareness about modern-day slavery, and I hope this Oscar nomination does just that. Modern-day slavery is a worldwide issue. My hope is that people can use Kavi to raise awareness that turns into action.”
Helvey was first inspired to take positive action toward modern slavery back in 2001, after he graduated from the University of Virginia and briefly worked as a National Geographic Traveler. There, he had worked with someone who was involved with rectifying sex slavery in Eastern Europe.
It blew my mind to hear the horrific stories of young women being sold into slavery,” he stated. “As I dug into research, I learned that the most prevalent yet least-known form of modern-day slavery is bonded labor.”
Through his research, Helvey learned of forced labor at brick kilns in India and Pakistan, where he said many families are committed into modern slavery in order to pay off “loans.”
“The slaves are forced to work through intimidation or violence, and if they attempt to escape, they are often beaten and then charged for the price of their bandages,” Helvey added. “These bogus loans can be passed down through generations, resulting in families who have only ever known a life of forced labor.”
A little more than two years ago, Helvey grabbed a camera and organized a film crew to film a fictional story of a very real issue in the small village of Shirwal, about four hours east of Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra. Seven days later, Helvey had his content and introduced his film to the world about 11 months ago, at the 2009 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.
After claiming a Student Oscar award a few months ago, Kavi is now primed for international attention at this weekend’s Academy Awards. Now, Helvey hopes to use his experience and exposure to make Kavi an even bigger phenomenon. “I knew I was dealing with a delicate topic with this film,” he frankly stated. “Kavi is a springboard for a full-length feature that explores how slavery is not just in India but in most countries, and even in our backyards. Within this film, I portray hope in the situation by showing how Indians are helping each other to combat this issue.”
About 30 months in the making, Helvey hopes the story of his journey in chronicling the struggles of the powerless in India – and everywhere else – will inspire the privileged into action.
“The journey has been an adventure and a character-building experience, and it has been exciting to see Kavi take off,” the 30-year-old filmmaker stated. “It is especially gratifying when Indian audiences react so positively to the film, and I’m encouraged by others who ask forward-thinking questions about how they can help end slavery.
“I hope to generate the same kind of support for the feature-length version based on the short so I can reach an even wider audience with this message and play a small role in giving a voice to the voiceless.”
Should Helvey indeed make his feature-length film and provide a voice to the voiceless, then this young filmmaker has already won, no matter what the final outcome is at the ceremonious award show scheduled to take place at Hollywood’s Kodak Theater on March 7th.
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