Oscar nomination âdream come trueâ for 91”ΔΠalum
Mike Munn says it was âan honourâ to co-edit the Oscar-nominated film, To Kill a Tiger. (91”ΔÎ/YouTube)
After eight months of editing footage for the Oscar-nominated film To Kill a Tiger, editor Mike Munn and Toronto director Nisha Pahuja realized they had a major challenge.
âThere were two films on the timeline,â said Munn.
His job was to whittle it down to one.
Pahuja had spent four years filming in India. Her original goal was to tell an overarching story about the impact of masculinity and the countryâs patriarchal system.
But as Munn sifted through about 1,000 hours of footage - one story stood out.
That of a farmer named Ranjit.
âHe shared that his 13-year-old daughter had been gang raped, and he wanted to take the case to the court system, rather than go the kind of conventional, traditional way â in the rural area where they lived, usually the victim is forced to marry the rapist,â he said, adding that the fatherâs decision to disobey the conventional rule meant he and his family were ostracised from their village.
As Munn tried to weave Ranjitâs story through the rest of the footage, he felt it was being compromised.
âI remember saying to her (Pahuja), Iâm not sure these can go together,â he said.
âI was trying my hardest to tell the story that she had initially intended. But one of the jobs of an editor is to also say, âWhat if we do this?ââ
Pahuja agreed that Ranjitâs story was an important one. After careful consideration with industry peers, she shifted the entire focus of the film to Ranjitâs fight for justice for his daughter.
Today, the film is nominated for an Oscar.
âItâs a dream come true,â Munn said of the honour.
Several awards
The Academy Award nomination -- for the Best Feature Documentary -- is a cherry on top of the filmâs seemingly endless list of prizes, including Best Canadian Feature at TIFF, and Best Documentary at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
In addition, it won the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Feature Length Documentary and Best Editing in a Feature Documentary â in which Munn and co-editor David Kazala are named.
It was also just purchased by Netflix for world wide broadcast.
Not surprisingly, itâs also turning heads in India.
The film hasnât been released there yet - but the making of the documentary alone sparked outrage â with some villagers invading Ranjitâs home during the filming, threatening the filmmakers and intimidating them into leaving.
âThere are potentially all kinds of ramifications,â Munn said, noting that efforts have been made to protect the farmer and his family, and will continue to be made, especially when the film is released.
âItâs a big responsibility on Nishaâs part, I give her a lot of credit,â Munn said. âShe always has Ranjit and his family top of mind.â
Road to Oscars began at 91”ΔÎ
For Munn, who grew up in Listowel, a small town near Stratford, Ont., and lives in Peterborough, the Oscar nomination is a climactic moment of a storied career that started at 91”ΔΠin 1979.
âOut of all the film schools, 91”ΔΠwas the best practical school for film making. It had all of the best camera equipment, all of the sound equipment, it had a soundstage⊠There was a lab there where they could develop film right there in the same building,â he explained.
âIt gave you really great hands-on experience because you werenât just learning about it â you were doing it,â he continued.
As Munn progressed through the program (which today is Film Studies in the School of Image Arts in The Creative School), there was no doubt where his passion lied.
âBy third and fourth year, I was editing other people's projects. They were more interested in the shooting or the sound, but I was fixated on editing,â he said.
Looking back at his childhood, itâs no surprise.
âI was a film nerd,â he laughed. âWhenever I had a history or English project, I'd always ask if I could make a Super Eight film instead.â
âI remember editing my little Super Eight films on my parents' ping pong table. So, funnily enough, I'm still doing now what I was doing when I was 12,â he said.
âDo it as much as you canâ
It was there at 91”ΔΠthat Munnâs industry network was born.
âYou know, if you knew someone around the same level that you were at who was a director, you knew theyâd need an editor, so youâd offer to help edit their film,â he said. âThe more of that you did, the more your network grew, and the more projects would come along.â
Itâs advice he continues to give film students today.
âOne of the main things when you're starting out is to do it as much as you can,â he said, noting that every new project can help build a portfolio, and lead to another connection or project.
He also knows the industry can be tough.
âYou have to make a living - thatâs important. But if you're able to, as much as you can, if you can keep one hand in what it was that excited you to get into film in the first place, I think that that's important.â
Munn now has 18 scripted features and 19 documentaries under his belt - including Canadian director Sarah Polleyâs Stories We Tell.
His heart has always been in anything that lends creative freedom - which is one of the reasons why Pahujaâs project â a National Film Board and independently funded production â spoke to him.
âItâs the storytelling. Itâs having an idea that exists in hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage and being responsible for, or co-responsible for, turning it into a compelling story.â
Helping make it an even more compelling story was the raw, authentic material he had to work with.
âTo attain that level of intimacy with the family, Nisha really had to earn their trust. To be involved in something as authentic and intimate as this is a real honour. You feel almost as though youâve been invited into their home,â he said.
Munn will be attending the Academy Awards event on Sunday, March 10 with Pahuja and other producers.
âI guess I need to get a tux,â he said with a laugh.
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