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What drives a documentary filmmaker to capture the untold stories of marginalized communities? Award-winning filmmaker Meera Darji takes us behind the scenes of her creative journey, revealing how mentorship transformed her approach to storytelling and empowered her to document India's hidden narratives.

Meera shares the pivotal moment when a university mentor encouraged her to explore documentary filmmaking, leading to her acclaimed work on India's hijra community. This guidance sparked a career dedicated to authentic representation through cinema verité techniques – filming reality as it unfolds without staging or manipulation. Her philosophy centers on transparency with subjects and capturing their genuine experiences through long takes and minimal intervention.

The conversation explores how passion fuels authenticity in documentary work. When genuinely curious about a subject, Meera explains, filmmakers engage more deeply and produce more meaningful outcomes. She views her process as a collaboration with subjects rather than simply documenting them, allowing their voices to guide the narrative alongside her directorial vision.

Currently working on "Majoor 9195," a feature documentary following women construction workers who build luxury apartments in India, Meera is pushing boundaries through ethnocensory filmmaking techniques. By creating immersive soundscapes that transport viewers to construction sites, she aims to provide audiences with visceral experiences that go beyond traditional documentary viewing.

For aspiring creatives, Meera offers liberating advice: "Don't overthink it. Just go there and film." She encourages experimentation without fear of failure, emphasizing that breaking conventions often leads to discovering one's unique voice. Her mantra, borrowed from Albert Maysles – "stay with it" – reminds filmmakers to keep rolling even when they think they've captured enough.

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Collaboration isn't just a buzzword—it's the engine that powers innovation in complex technical environments. Huub Streng, OSDU® Data Platform Advisor at Total Energies, joins us to unpack what makes teams truly successful.

From his remarkable journey starting in mechanical engineering to becoming a data management leader, Streng shares how adaptability and continuous learning shaped his career trajectory. The conversation reveals practical wisdom about creating environments where people genuinely enjoy working together toward common goals. At the foundation? Trust, clear decision-making processes, and well-defined objectives that everyone understands.

Streng offers fascinating insights into the delicate balance between individual accountability and collective responsibility. "Without individual accountability, team members would be looking at each other rather than taking ownership," he explains. We explore how mentorship accelerated his professional development and why he considers achievements as never standing alone—always building upon the contributions of others.

The discussion takes a deep dive into conflict management strategies, with Streng revealing that most workplace tensions stem from miscommunications rather than fundamental incompatibilities. His approach involves acknowledging conflicts directly, understanding individual perspectives, and facilitating productive dialogue. We also tackle the unique challenges of maintaining team cohesion in virtual environments, where deliberate community-building becomes essential.

Perhaps most compelling is Streng's passionate advocacy for diversity in collaborative settings. Through examples from the OSDU Forum's working groups, he demonstrates how diverse perspectives lead to more innovative solutions and more efficient problem-solving. Ready to transform how your teams collaborate? This conversation offers the blueprint you need.

Don't miss The Open Group Summit in Amsterdam (May 19-22, 2025) featuring OSDU Forum sessions, success stories, and collaborative working group meetings where these principles come alive. Learn more here.

Copyright © The Open Group 2023-2025. All rights reserved.

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Journey through the evolving landscape of technology and energy as Einar Landre shares his remarkable career path from computer scientist to an Oil and Gas industry veteran. Dividing his professional life into two distinct chapters, Einar takes us from his early days maintaining software in Oslo through an exciting consultancy phase—where he developed solutions for the European Space Agency's space module and Olympic security systems—to his current two-decade tenure with Equinor (formerly Statoil).

What makes this conversation particularly illuminating is Einar's philosophy toward problem-solving and continuous growth. He describes recurring seven-year cycles throughout his career, points at which he naturally seeks new challenges to avoid stagnation. His childhood fascination with building models and experimenting with physics evolved organically into a professional approach characterized by curiosity and resilience.

Perhaps most valuable are the hard-earned insights Einar offers to those in technical fields: master something to the level of peer recognition, never stop learning, and practice being "egoless" by detaching your identity from the products you create. His reflections on mentorship—supporting others' growth while honoring their unique strengths—reveal the deeply human side of technical leadership.

Whether you're navigating your own career in technology or simply fascinated by how four decades in rapidly changing industries shapes one's professional wisdom, this episode offers both practical guidance and thoughtful perspective on successful adaptation in complex environments.

Further reading: https://blog.opengroup.org/2024/11/26/sitting-down-with-einar-landre-operator-representative-the-open-group-osdu-management-committee-omc/

Coming up on Season 2: Lifelong Learning (Mini Episode), Insights from Huub Streng (TotalEnergies) on effective collaboration, and lots more!

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Copyright © The Open Group 2023-2025. All rights reserved.