Ridham Janve’s ‘Hunter’s Moon’ Is High Altitude Test of Human Nature – Film Bazaar Work-in-Progress

Ridham Janve, an already acclaimed director attending the Film Bazaar with his second film “Hunter’s Moon” (aka “Kaatti Ri Raatti”), likens the editing process to a game of long-distance chess that he played with star editor Amit Dutta.

“I would send him bursts of files, notes and elements of the mood, but not the narrative. That meant he had some surprises, such as the introduction of an important character midway through the story, but it was fascinating to have him discover my film from a different angle,” Janve told Variety.

The largely remote editing process was not a COVID-era necessity, but rather reflected the fact that both Janve and Dutta are men close to nature and who live in mountainous regions.

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Mountains were key to Janve’s previous film “The Gold-Laden Sheep and the Sacred Mountain,” and are again more than just a setting for his “Hunter’s Moon.”

The film’s narrative follows a hunter who stashes the meat he had caught in a place he thought to be safe. When he returns to the mountain cave, he discovers that his cache has been robbed and that he has a cunning rival.

Humans, Janve posits, are little different from animals – sometimes ruthless and driven to extremes by a need to survive. He says the film is an allegory of conflicting morals and twisted values that reveal man’s true nature in the wild.

“I wanted to take a deeper dive into what I call the true mountain experience. Sometimes mountains offer refuge. Yet they also expose this deeper self within us,” Janve says.

“Through this film, I seek to probe the human psyche, unravelling the intricate interplay of survival, morality, and the timeless struggle between humans and nature, where sometimes the human represents nature and other times it is just human, an animal with conscience and ego, burdened by dreams.”

Appearing in the Film Bazaar’s Work in Progress Lab, the film is fully shot and deep into post-production. Janve says that the Goa outreach effort is intended to bring in finishing funds and potential overseas co-producers ahead of a high-profile festival launch in 2025.

Janve is also still working on another project that has already attracted significant international attention. He was awarded the APSA MPA Film Fund grant, worth $25,000, from the Asia Pacific Screen Awards for his forthcoming “Ashwamedh” (aka “The Sacrifice”).

“The concept of an Ashwamedh Yagya has always fascinated me. The image of a horse running in the wilderness and marking new boundaries for its country says a lot to me and I find it fascinating how this symbolic image and concept has become even more relevant in the world today,” he previously told Indian media. “Receiving the MPA APSA award was fantastic for me. It allowed me to spend two years doing the necessary research,” he told Variety.

Production of “Hunter’s Moon” saw Janve and his producers at The Film Café, Uncombed Buddha, Stop Whining Pictures and Ammi Media use Gaddi mountain people including farmers, porters and laborers as part of the film’s main crew, training them in various production roles, including camera assistants and sound operators. “This hands-on approach not only provided employment to the Gaddis but also fostered a genuine connection to the filmmaking process, ensuring that the film authentically represented their culture and experiences,” Janve says.