When Eva Markvoort decided to share her organ transplant journey with the world, she trusted Vancouver filmmaker Nimisha Mukerji to tell her story.
Mukerji (together with fellow recent UBC film grad Philip Lyall) only had a handful of documentary shorts to her name when she dove headfirst into the feature that would launch her career: an uncensored look into Markvoort’s life as she awaited a double lung transplant.
The result — 2009’s 65_RedRoses, so named for Markvoort’s web moniker — was a hit on the festival circuit, and thrust its subject and filmmakers into the global spotlight. The film received a game-changing stamp of approval from none other than Oprah Winfrey, who selected it to launch her documentary series Doc Club in 2011.
Sadly, Markvoort lost her battle with cystic fibrosis in 2010, but her brave story lives on in no small part thanks to Mukerji, who has since dedicated her life to sharing stories that move, challenge and inspire.
“[Documentary filmmaking] is almost like having a relationship with someone,” says Mukerji on the phone from Las Vegas where she’s filming Tempest Storm. “When you decide to make a film, you’re committed. You fall in love with your subjects and the story, despite all of their flaws, despite your own flaws, [and] you decide that there is a story to be told. You don’t know how it’s going to end, but you definitely want to be there for the journey.”
Mukerji’s current cinematic relationship — a feature about an 85-year-old burlesque star who once dated Elvis and JFK and is still living it up in the desert city — was one of the first to be successfully “Kickstarted” when the crowdfunding giant launched in Canada last year.
Crowdfunding is a model that suits Mukerji just fine, especially when compared with a documentarian’s usual funding M.O.: jump into a project with no financing, and then hope the footage snags the interest of a funder or two. “[Kickstarter] was about taking the power back,” she says. “Rather than going about it through the grant system, we’re like, ‘let’s show there’s an audience for this film right off the bat.’”
The support of the Mighty O continues to impact Mukerji’s career. “Meeting [Winfrey] and being a part of that documentary club, it gave me the confidence to continue making movies that I believe in and that I’m passionate about, despite the broadcasters or the audience or the distributors,” she says. “I need to have an identity as a filmmaker and I need to make strong decisions, and I felt empowered to do that.”
Her work is not going unnoticed here at home. On April 30, Mukerji will be honoured at Women in Film & Television Vancouver’s 25th Anniversary Spotlight Awards for artistic achievement.
“Getting the award is honouring all of the extraordinary women in my life who have helped me get here, from my mother to my mentors to the subjects themselves, like Eva and Tempest,” she says. “I share this with all of them because they’re the reason that I’m making films and they’re the reason I’m getting this award.”
The Women in Spotlight awards will be handed out at Performance Works. Horror directors Jenn and Sylvia Soska (American Mary) and Whistler Film Festival founder Shauna Hardy Mishaw are among the other honorees. Tickets and information at WomenInFilm.ca/Spotlight.html.
If you work in our film and TV industry, Sabrina Furminger wants to hear your stories. Follow Sabrina on Twitter @sabrinarmf or send your news to [email protected].
