Creative Heights Entertainment
Television Academy voters are sifting through their Emmy nomination ballots and are considering several travel-themed series for the awards, including Eugene Levy's “The Reluctant Traveler” and Jaswant's “On a Quest:
Written, directed and starring Nepal-born Jaswant Dev Shrestha, the show is an unusual travel series told from a filmmaker's perspective. Season 1 will consist of six episodes as Jaswant explores different parts of Portugal, documenting “untold stories, history, hidden wonders, art, culture, food, people and places.” Winner of Best Travel Series at the 2023 International Tourism Film Festival in Turkey and Best Independent Documentary at the 2023 Zagreb Tourism Film Festival in Croatia, “On a Quest: with Jaswant” is competing for Primetime Emmy Awards in multiple categories, including Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special and Outstanding Writing, Editing, Cinematography and Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program.
Jaswant Dev Shrestha stars in On a Quest: With Jaswant Creative Heights Entertainment
Shrestha made history as the first Nepali to win a Regional Emmy Award for his cultural programming series, Festival. He has released On A Quest: With Jaswant domestically on his own platform, Creative Heights Entertainment (CHETV+). Programme Buyer is handling the international sales for the series.
Deadline: As a storyteller, what inspired you to create a travel series?
Jaswant Dev Shrestha: The inspiration goes back a long way. I also do travel shows in my hometown Nepal. I was a good student of history in school so I explored a lot of India and Nepal and Asian parts of the world. I love travelling to unknown places. Not necessarily famous places, I love going beyond the course and meeting really hardworking people, connecting with unknown artists and exploring different cultures. I've always been fascinated by it.
Creative Heights Entertainment
Deadline: Why did you decide to focus on Portugal for the first season of the series?
JDS: Since it was season one, I wanted to take on the challenge of doing it in Europe. [the Portuguese] Vasco da Gama, the explorer. He was a 17th century explorer who “discovered” India and many other places around the world. I was so fascinated by him. He was exploring and finding places, and I was traveling and learning about different cultures. In 2018, I had the opportunity to go to Portugal, attend a tourism festival, and was fascinated by its history. I thought I would make a 15-20 minute short about Portugal, so I filmed a little bit at the time. Then I went back to Portugal again for a few days at the end of 2018 and tried to make a 15-20 minute short documentary. Finally, we started filming in May 2019 and decided to make it into a six-part series. My friend, Carlos [Sargedas]who is also our director of photography and executive producer, had a resource that we could rely on. Once we finished filming, all of a sudden, everyone was like, “We want to share our story.” When I was looking for stories, I didn't want something that was already out there. I wanted something that was enlightening, at least for a South Asian audience, something very unique. I grew up in South Asia, so I had a different image of Europe until I went to America and Europe. When you think of Europe, let's say Paris or France, you think of the Eiffel Tower, but you don't necessarily think of farmers picking grapes to make wine. So I wanted to bring those stories to a South Asian audience. [South Asian] I want the audience to be able to connect as well and say, ‘We are the same.’ That’s what I wanted to show and what I wanted to learn in the process.
Deadline: There are some beautifully filmed scenes that capture the essence of different regions of Portugal. What was the preparation process like before you finally got out on location and shot the episodes?
“On a Quest: With Jaswant” Creative Heights Entertainment
JDS: I [Portuguese] It is my mission to know and explore people's lives. So, I would pick unique stories along the way and plan my shoot accordingly. The main problem I faced was to shoot the episode of “The Night Fishing” at night in the Atlantic Ocean. No matter how well equipped you are, the cold is not your friend. Sometimes my camera broke, but luckily I had more than one, so I managed to get through it. We had to go through a lot of procedures to get a license, and also a fishing group had to agree to take us. So, there was a lot involved. I am not a good swimmer, I have never swam in the ocean, never dived in the ocean to find dolphins. So, I had to learn how to swim in the ocean. I was fascinated by dolphins and I wanted to see them up close and film all of them. I had a vision of how to portray the story in a certain way. The first time I went, it was overcast weather, so I didn't get very good shots. I had to go another time, another year, raise money from somewhere, bring better equipment and better underwater protection.
Jaswant Dev Shrestha stars in On a Quest: With Jaswant Creative Heights Entertainment
We hired people who knew locals or knew where to go if we were lucky enough to get to shoot dolphins in certain areas. My team there was so enthusiastic, loving and kind-hearted. They made it happen. Then the pandemic hit and some of the exterior shots I was shooting at the time were halted. I used that time to do post-production on the episodes I had already shot. As soon as the travel ban was lifted in June 2021, we resumed filming and added another two weeks of exterior reshoots. So you can see beautiful drone shots of the castle and Lisbon, one of the most crowded cities, with no one walking in the frame due to the lockdown.
Deadline: You wear many hats: creator, host, editor, director, cinematographer, etc. What were some of the particular challenges of making this series as an independent documentary filmmaker?
“On a Quest: With Jaswant” Creative Heights Entertainment
JDS: The long filming periods were really tough. [Portuguese] Transcribing the language was also a big challenge for me. I shot a lot of interviews but only used them to transcribe the narration. There are no talking heads. So the post-production was the hardest part. Editing took about two years, but the project could have been finished sooner if the budget allowed. Mostly it was just a case of working a bit to raise money or getting help from friends and family, then going back and starting over. [filming]At least it was privately funded. If you don't put your own money on the line, no one's going to do it for you. As a presenter and as a producer, I wanted to tell this story, no matter how difficult and exhausting it was. And I wanted to make more, I wanted to show people that I'd done this, and I hoped that if I was given the resources and the cooperation, I could make it better. I didn't want to compromise on quality. That's why it took longer and more time.
Deadline: You previously won an Emmy in the Outstanding Documentary – Religion category for the episode “Festival of Saraswati Puja” of the cultural series “Festivals.” What does this Emmy nomination mean to you?
JDS: My first Emmy win was for the five-part series Festival, set in Nepal, and the episode “Saraswati Puja Festival” won my first Emmy at the Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards. I am proud to be the first Nepalese to win an Emmy. Now I am going for a Primetime Emmy, so the competition is even tougher. People like Morgan Freeman and Oprah Winfrey, who I look up to and learn from every day, are on the same ballot. This raises the bar for challenges. Leaving my home country of Nepal, going to Mumbai, India, working there for a few years, and then living in Los Angeles for 13 years, chasing and realizing my childhood dream, has been a lot of experiences and challenges. I love challenges, so it's great.
