Kolkata International Film Festival focus on Australia to strengthen ties with India

KOLKATA: The focus country for the forthcoming 24th Kolkata International Film Festival is Australia. The news comes close on heels of Australia’s decision to reopen their consulate in Kolkata, more than three decades after it exited the city in the mid-1980s.
With more and more city students and tourists travelling Down Under and Australian film crews coming down to shoot in Kolkata, many are hoping that KIFF’s decision will go a long way in improving the India-Australia ties.
This year’s KIFF chairperson, Prosenjit Chatterjee, confirmed the news to TOI saying: “Yes, Australia is the focus country. We are in the process of finalising the details.”
Incidentally, quite a few Australian productions have been shot in Kolkata. In 2015, Australian director Garth Davis was in here to shoot ‘Lion’ that was based on a book titled ‘A Long Way Home’ by Saroo Brierley with Larry Buttrose. Brierley, who got lost at the age of five in Madhya Pradesh and travelled to Kolkata in a train, was adopted by an Australian family. Years later, he had traced his long-lost family using Google Earth. This Nicole Kidman film had brought down Dev Patel, Priyanka Bose, Deepti Naval, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddique and Sunny Pawar to the city.
In 2008, Australian director Claire McCarthy had got Hollywood stars to shoot ‘The Waiting City’ in Kolkata. Apart from Indian actors, the film had starred Australian actors Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton.
Incidentally, Paul Cox — who was recognized as “Australia’s most prolific film auteur — has been a favourite at KIFF. The festival has hosted his retrospective as well. Not only did Cox come for the inauguration of KIFF in 2014, he had also headed the jury. In 2016, KIFF paid homage to Cox after his demise in June.
This time, names of some topbilled Australian directors and actors came up in preliminary discussions on the Australian delegation that will be in to Kolkata. Talks have already been held about including a section on contemporary Australian cinema. The possibility of hosting an exhibition of Australian cinema has also been discussed. Subsequent meetings will decide on the exact line-up of programmes.