Interview: Pratap Rughani

What do you do?

I'm a freelance documentary film director and writer. I also do some photography.

How did you get to your current position?

I did a post-graduate diploma in Newspaper journalism at City University, and then became a BBC General Trainee, via short stints on The Independent newspaper and working as a freelance radio reporter in Washington DC.

I've worked on over 25 networked documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4 and some of them have won awards. But that's the surface and means relatively little...

The real answer is that when I was at college I spent a summer in Hong Kong and was very moved by spending time with orphaned Vietnamese refugee children held in Hong Kong camps. I was appalled at their treatment and angered by the partial and prejudiced coverage of their situation in the local and British media.

I'd always loved words and images and something in me decided that I could use whatever skills I could develop to try and help through reportage and photography. That's how it really happened.

What's the most important thing you've learnt in your career?

A career should be an integrated expression of one's deeper explorations of life, never the other way around. Or more succinctly: "To thine own self be true".

How do you most like to learn?

I'm inspired by imaginative and courageous filmmakers, evolving stories with some flair to break new ground, artistically and / or with a social / ethical purpose. Whenever possible, I like to learn by collaboration.

Hands-on training is irreplacable. Most situations for me are learning situations. If they're not then there's something missing either in the situation or my attitude to the situation.

The most significant learning follows the course of some emotional or intellectual truth. Be wary of anyone who doesn't understand this.

Has training helped you in your work?

Unquestionably. It's helped me develop confidence as well as basic skills and (more recently) a licensed environment in which to experiment.

Are there any courses you'd recommend to people hoping to work in a similar area to you?

The BBC's Single Camera 1 and Single Camera 2 courses are highly regarded (although nowadays I co-produce some of these so I hope this won't sound like special pleading).

I've also taken Sony PD150 Operation and Shooting, it was an excellent introduction to all aspects of self-shooting both technically and editorially.

What previous experience and learning has helped you in your work?

I've been in several situations where I'm looking at conflict from either side of a divide, with films on Native America; Apartheid and forgiveness; Aboriginal Australia; Maori-Pakeha in New Zealand; Israel; the civil war in Sierra Leone, to name a few.

Developing journalistic skills is very useful. But equally useful is knowing when and how to let these fade and explore stories in more lateral and creative ways.

Photography helps develop and sustain your directing eye. I've also taken time to train in painting and do an MA in Philosophy. Exploring interests and instincts and developing the mind in other ways is an essential (though not literally related) part of how to approach film, I think.

Life experience informs the work - our own sensibilities are shaped by it. The main thing I try to keep re-learning is to stay open-minded. To seek to understand what contributors are seeing and saying - to hear it from their point of view as fully as possible before coming to a view about whatever the story is. A film should be a journey of discovery for the filmmakers as well as the audience...

What's coming up next / what challenges are you facing in your working life?

The main challenge is always to get my best ideas made and to keep a balance of writing and filmmaking that supports a rounded life.

What books / websites would you recommend in your subject area?

The Faber book of Documentary is great - for getting at the ideas and ideals of documentary form.