Shots from Down Under

In the film Go Back to Where You Came From (Season I),six Australians challenge their deep-rooted notions about refugees and asylum seekers by undertaking an unusual journey.

In the film Go Back to Where You Came From (Season I),six Australians challenge their deep-rooted notions about refugees and asylum seekers by undertaking an unusual journey. Over 25 days,they trace in reverse the journeys that refugees have taken to reach Australia. The film,which attempts to understand the mind of an asylum seeker and may remind an Indian audience about the attacks on Indian students Down Under a few years ago,will be screened as part of a festival titled Stories from Australia at the India International Centre from July 17-20. Filmmaker Rick McPhee will be present at the screening.

The festival would be a good platform for cultural exchange with India. Were interested in telling you our stories,and listening to yours, says Lauren Dixon of the Australia-based Walkley Foundation for Journalism,which recognises and awards documentaries that are based on the principles of journalism and rigorous filmmaking. Dixon has curated the festival with Jacqui Park,Director of the Walkley Foundation. All eight films to be screened at the festival have either won or been finalists at the Walkley Awards over the last two years. says Dixon.

The festival will open with Divorce: Aussie Islamic Way,in which director Jennifer Crone zeroes in on a domestic issue unknown to most people. How do couples with differing social and religious customs go about formally breaking up? Another film on migrants,Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta documents how a Vietnamese community in Cabramatta overcame the odds and found their place in Australia.

Then The Wind Changed,a personal account of a community recovering from a devastating bush fire,won the Walkley Documentary Award 2012 and its screening will be followed by a discussion between director Celeste Geer and Delhi-based filmmaker Anupama Srinivasan. The winner of the 2011 Walkley Award for Best Documentary,The Tall Man ,is a complex emotional and legal drama. The film examines the circumstances surrounding the death of Cameron Doomadgee,a man who swore at a policeman and died 40 minutes later in a watch-house cell. The stories our filmmakers are telling cover issues that are relevant worldwide and we hope our Indian audience will enjoy and relate to these tales as well as enjoy the work of our award-winning filmmakers, says Dixon.

Stories from Australia will be held at India International Centre from July 17-20. Contact: 24619431

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