Nature Friendly

At a time when most foreign actors are heading to India to bag big-ticket Bollywood projects,Indonesian actor and director Olivia Zalianty has other plans. The 32-year-old wants to support children’s filmmaking initiatives. “I have been working with children,teaching them filmmaking and acting in my country. They are the future and I love working with them,” she said,at a promotional event in the city for a Delhi-based NGO called BOL.

The NGO,which is co-founded by Sayak and Debjani Bandyopadhyay,launched an initiative called the Green Child Project,which hopes to travel to 22 countries and reach out to school children to sensitise them to their environment. The duo has been teaching children how to make animation films,and also conducted a filmmaking workshop at the event. “I organised the Indonesian International Environmental Film Festival last year at Labhuan Bajo island,Indonesia,with the local children. When I met Debjani there,she approached me with her initiative and I thought of supporting the duo,” said Zalianty,who also runs her own production house in Jakarta.

“It will be an enriching experience to work here. I don’t know the language but our culture is very similar. But for now,I want to encourage children to make films about their environment,” she said.