Trisha Ray

Trisha Ray is an award-winning independent screenwriter, filmmaker, actor and editor.^[1][2]

Filmmaker, Producer, Screenwriter, Actress, Editor

She is the grandniece of BAFTA nominated actress Karuna Banerjee. Her grandfather Dr. Bimal Roy, an ObGyn by profession was so passionate about music, that he compiled three encyclopedias in Eastern Classical Music which are used by researchers all around the globe.^[3] Both her parents were involved in group theatre. She was in her teens when she started interning for a production company where she learned editing and assisted directors on sets. During her sophomore year, she dropped out of pre-med to pursue film production.

Early Years

Trisha was born into a joint-family of artists and physicians. She enjoyed reading. So, each time she scored high marks in her class, her grandmother would reward her with a new book.

Trisha also enjoyed spending time at her grandfather, Dr. Bimal Ray's clinic where she would be allowed to call names of the patients. Until 5, she was certain she wanted to be a physician like her grandfather, but then she visited the rehearsals at her father and uncle's theatre company and fell in love with the whole process. She loved watching her father direct actors, loved her uncle's acting skills and was awed by their knowledge of literature and plays.

At 6, she was a regular at these rehearsals where she read lines for missing actors and hung out backstage during productions. Noticing her love for acting and reading, her grandparents enrolled her in a children's theatre club but she lasted only one evening there after being bored among children her age. Through her father's theatre, she got to study the works of Anton Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, Rabindranath Tagore, Tennessee Williams, Oscar Wilde, Badal Sarkar at a very young age.

Soon she was cast by her father in his production and started training under him with the method of Russian director Constantin Stanislavski which she practices even today.

Films

During her pre-teen years, Trisha was involved in writing poetry and essays for school magazines. It was then that she self-taught herself screenplay writing by reading books and watching movies. Knowing her passion for films, her cousin who had a job with a Television Software Company, pulled her in as an apprentice when she was only 14. That's where she learned to use u-matic and betacam editing systems.

When she was in school, she was introduced by director San Banarje to Scarface during the film's re-run in a local theatre in their neighborhood. San had already seen the movie many times before with his school mates and wanted to make Trisha a fan of Brian de Palma. All the way back from the theatre, they kept talking about the style and performance in the movie, wondering if they would ever be able to make a film someday. Many years later, while at a film festival with their thriller Bodhisattva, San and Trisha met Robert Loggia and spent a good deal of time learning from him, his experience acting in the film.

During her sophomore year in California, Trisha dropped out of college to dedicate her time to study films. She did not enjoy studying for medicine and her Ob/gyn grandfather, whose passion was music, supported her in her decision.

Krzysztof Kieslowski, Michael Haneke, Satyajit Ray, Woody Allen, Luis Buñuel, Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch and Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes educated and inspired her the most.

After working on sets and location in different countries including USA, England and Argentina, Trisha made an experimental feature in Houston starring San Banarje and a group of friends and acquaintances. To accommodate the acting style of her friends, she had to rewrite the script on location, finally ending with only San Banarje as a cast with dialogues. The challenges of working with non-actors who took the film as a hobby taught her the importance of working with trained and involved actors. It also made her study harder and learn from her own mistakes that she made while making the film. She considers the editing process of her experimental as the best film school she didn't attend. She credits Robert Rodriguez as her guru.

In 2006, Trisha quit her part-time job as a graphic artist and went into film production full-time, making several shorts and features including Christian films, foreign films, thrillers and comedies.

While Trisha was looking for original music for her comedy feature that she wrote and directed titled Bleep Love.,^[4] actor/musician Ryan Donowho,^[5] whose father Wayne Donowho^[6] played a supporting role in the film, came forward with a soundtrack CD and donated it to be used as background score of the film.

In 2006, Trisha returned to acting after one of her actresses in 'Bleep Love' did not show up on location and followed it with San Banarje's dogma film 'Money' that was first shot as a short in Houston and turned into a feature when they attended the Short Film Corner of Cannes Film Festival with the film and shot the rest of the film in Paris.

In 2007, Trisha directed the Christian film 'Federal Case' for Boat Angel Family Films, an Arizona-based film company whose films educate teens and children with messages of love and faith.

In 2009, Trisha and San Banarje made two features in Calcutta, and one short film 'Terracotta' while traveling cross-country USA. Sugarbaby, a Christian film, written by Brian Stewart for Boat Angel Family Films, was shot in early 2009 in Calcutta and starred Soumitra Chatterjee and San Banarje.

In winter 2009, Trisha acted alongside Soumitra Chatterjee in a screenplay she had co-written with San Banarje titled Bodhisattva.^[7] During rehearsals, director San Banarje was not convinced by her performance and was going to recast her. He gave her the first day of shoot to prove to him that she could play the role of Maya. Her first day of shoot was opposite the iconic Soumitra Chatterjee who was playing Maya's father Bodhisattva. To prepare for the role, she took off for seven days, watched every movie of her grandaunt Karuna Banerjee whose acting style inspired her and decided to cut communications with everyone until the picture wrapped. After her first scene was shot, director San Banarje was excited by her performance and applauded her for her dedication. The entire film was shot in the home of Trisha's mother who stayed in one room until the day's shoot was over.^[8]

In 2011, after finishing production of a Christian feature in Houston, Trisha left for Buenos Aires, Argentina to get materials for her screenplay 'Regression' that she had started writing in 2010. Being in the city where the story actually takes place helped her move forward with her research and weave the Dictatorship era with present day political situation of the country.

In September 2011, Trisha returned to India to work in San Banarje's "The Nowhere Son" starring Soumitra Chatterjee for the third time in their film. The film was named as top five Don't Miss Movies at 2013 Worldfest by movie critic Joe Leydon.^[9]

In December 2011, Trisha went back to Buenos Aires to film a short titled "Marcha Atrás" as a prelude to a feature she has been working on titled "Regression".

In 2012, back in Houston, Trisha focused on making PSA videos to raise cancer awareness through a non-profit foundation that she founded with San Banarje called "The Next Samaritan Project" and work with locals in Calcutta, India to help donate shoes to barefoot rickshawpuller, cartpullers and children.

In 2013, Trisha worked in three features. Her screenplay "The Shadow Behind You" that she co-wrote with director San Banarje was followed by the surreal drama "Artisse", written by Brian Stewart for Boat Angel Family Films that she directed, and the comedy "Sex, Marriage and Infidelity in New York" that she produced for debuting director Richard Finger, a student of her who writes for the Forbes Magazine. All three films were shot by San Banarje on Arri Alexa.

References

External links

• Trisha Ray at the Internet Movie Database