Tara Milutis is a documentary film-maker from New York, currently living in and drawing inspiration from Bangkok. She has a number of documentary and short films to her credit, and is currently in post-production on a feature-length documentary shot and directed over a nine-month period in Vietnam. Most recently she finished a short film on Ajahn Suputh, a monk residing at Wat Mahadhatu’s Section 5. ‘Outlook’ talks to her about her latest subject, the field of documentary film-making and why Bangkok is such a rich source of inspiration.
How did you come to know Ajahn Suputh?
I’d lived in Vietnam for six months shooting my first feature-length documentary last year, and when I was done shooting I came to Bangkok to look into post-production and to get back to civilisation in a sense. Though I love Vietnam, I was worn out from the challenges of the shoot as well as the intensity of the culture. Bangkok was a welcome relief, the city had so much to offer, and I felt like it was a place where I could stay for awhile to re-centre myself.
I’d read about Section 5 at Wat Mahadhatu in Bangkok 101, and it seemed like a good place for me to go to learn about Theravada Buddhism and vipassana meditation. It was in my favourite neighbourhood in Bangkok – right in the middle of the magical amulet market and around the corner from the Grand Palace. So I packed a bag and went for a three-day meditation retreat.
It was there that I met Master Suputh. Since he speaks excellent English, he’s the monk that speaks to the foreign meditation students on Theravada Buddhism and vipassana. I’d never really sat and talked to a monk before, and I must admit that at first it was strange because my mind was always racing ahead while his seemed to stay in the moment. But he was very easy to talk to, he had spent a lot of time in the US and Europe, so he had a big world view that made our conversation flow easily. During the retreat Master Suputh gave me a lot of his time, we talked a lot, about the origins of suffering and how to conquer it, karma, mindfulness.
Describe Wat Mahadhatu’s Section 5.
Past the gates of Wat Mahadhatu it looks like something out of a storybook. Section 5 itself is austere – there’s no glitz there, but it’s full of charm. It’s very basic, with retreaters in white practising meditation and the monks and the laypeople that work there going about their daily lives at the centre. There is a wonderful woman named Phi I who helps with the foreign students, and a group of laypeople that have been at Section 5, some of them for 30 years. It really feels like a family, and that’s what made me feel so comfortable there. During my three-day meditation retreat I slept on a hardwood floor with Buddhist nuns, waking up at 5am. I didn’t eat after 11am. I meditated for about eight hours a day. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be. Even though I don’t consider myself a Buddhist, the experience changed me for sure.
What aspect of Suputh’s teachings is particularly inspirational?
I liked how universal Master Suputh’s teachings were. That the basics of Theravada Buddhism were just three things – don’t do bad things, do good things and purify your mind through meditation. That suffering is created by not being content with what you have, and by not understanding or accepting the impermanence of everything. That was a big breakthrough for me. To be able to grasp the concept of impermanence. It really had an instant affect on me and my life. Which is one of the reasons I wanted to make the film on Master Suputh – to bring that idea back to my friends and family in the US. I think it’s a concept that hasn’t proliferated much there, and I believe most Americans could benefit. I believe meditation is important for everyone, even if you just do it briefly every day. You can easily do it on the BTS!
Why have you chosen Bangkok as a base for your film work?
For the moment I find it to be a very inspiring place. I love the mix between old and new, the street fashion, the food, the culture in general. I think the Thais are very friendly, and I love the wai. I love how everyone wais when they pass a shrine, even the motorbike drivers!
Bangkok is a convenient base for getting to the rest of Asia – and an easy place for me to focus and get work done. It’s important to be able to have Fed Ex, good copy centres and stores selling computer equipment at my disposal. When I was living in Vietnam I didn’t have any of that, and it made work really difficult. Also, I love being able to get on the bus and be in Koh Samet in four hours, or to get on a train for Chiang Mai.
How do you spend your free time in the capital?
I spend most of my time at my desk editing my documentary! But when I need a break I like to just walk around, discovering the city. Other than that I like Scala cinema, movies or events at the FCCT, street food or food courts, lunch or dinner at the Atlanta [Hotel], taking the Chao Phraya ferries to the old parts of town, Lumphini Park, the amulet market, Chatuchak Market, Siam Square stalls and stores, Hyde & Seek, discovering Chinatown, drinks at the [Mandarin] Oriental, the Eugenia.
What else are you working on at the moment and what projects do you have planned?
Right now I’m continuing the edit of my feature documentary – the film is a travel journal through Vietnam that focuses on my relationships with a cross section of women in the country who are being affected by globalisation, particularly the ethnic minority Hmong in the North – and I have a few projects that I’m developing. One is a short project about a Karen maid in Bangkok, another is a project with some Jesuit priest friends who are doing work at refugee camps on the Burmese border.
Describe some of the themes and subjects you like to work with. What inspires you creatively?
I have always been inspired by what I like to call the “magic of everyday”. I think the most beautiful and profound things in life happen right under our noses.
I am interested in cultural identities; the diversity that defines us, as well as the common threads that join us all. But most importantly I’ve always wanted to give a voice to people who may have never had a chance to be heard.
The May 3 ‘Thai Rath’ cover photograph of you crossing the red-shirt barricade at Chulalonkorn Hospital caused a bit of a stir.
Ha, yes, that was quite an experience, and a lesson in media for sure! I had just gotten back from a reshoot in Vietnam, and didn’t know that the situation in Bangkok had escalated after the Chula Hospital incident. I was just trying to get to Siam Square from Sala Daeng, and didn’t think much of walking through the red-shirt camp since it was the fastest way. As soon as I walked through the barbed wire, I saw two journalists enthusiastically taking my picture. I guess I didn’t realise what a photo op it was. I am just so used to walking around Bangkok, living in a sense like a local, that I didn’t realise my image was in such stark contrast with what was going on around me. I did feel like I was misrepresented, though. The photojournalist asked me if I was a journalist, I said no I’m a documentary film-maker. See, if I was a journalist it wouldn’t have been a story. But as a doc film-maker of course I’m going to be more interested in seeing what was going on there than your average visitor to Bangkok. Anyway, I was stunned when my Thai friends called me to tell me I was on the cover of Thai Rath! I got a lot of stares on the BTS that week.
Do you have any advice for young Thais hoping to work in film?
Years ago back in New York I interned for the legendary documentarian Albert Maysles, of Grey Gardens and Gimme Shelter fame. I was fortunate enough to be able to sit and talk with him about my projects, and one day, after deliberating about ideas for a new film, he said to me “Just shoot!” I loved the directness and the simplicity of that advice. Whatever film you make doesn’t have to be perfect, do what you can with what you have. Don’t over-think it, just go for it. Advice that funnily enough echoes the lessons I learned from Master Suputh!
Source: The Bangkok Post
Click here to see Tara’s short movie The Monk
