Biography
Shriprakash was born on the 23rd of December 1966 from a family of farmers in the state of Bihar, in an area that in 2000 became a separate state called Jharkhand. He graduated in Science and Journalism from Ranchi University and soon became interested in video as an activist medium. With his films he has attempted to capture the struggles and aspirations of indigenous local communities in Bihar and Jharkhand, and to give them a voice. "I do not impose my views," he explains. "I am only the instrument that takes the camera to the place of struggle. It's the people participating in the struggle who actually make the film. They live out their lives and voice their concerns in their own words. I only record."
Shriprakash doesn't use grants or loans for his films, instead he relies on food and transport provided by the local communities themselves, who use his finished film to strengthen the resolve of their own people and lobby their cause in different fora. Post-production funds are raised from well-wishers and by selling CD copies of the films to NGOs and activist groups who use the films as motivational and training tools. As for the initial investment on a video camera, it was raised through a business that he started in Ranchi with some like-minded friends in the 1980s: video-shooting marriages and other functions, to pay for the kind of films they wanted to make. Since the business didn't work, the group dissolved and Shriprakash moved to Delhi, where he works on making video films for NGOs.
Shriprakash has directed and produced many documentary films during the last 15 years. He is also the chief co-ordinator of Kritika, a group working in the Jharkhand region since 1990 in the areas of culture and communication. He only uses his first name as a protest for the Indian caste system, which discriminates depending on the caste one belongs to, since family names in India indicate the caste of the family.
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