Delhi gets an Aussie dose

The nation is acquiring interest in documentary films, especially since the BBC’s documentary on Nirbhaya rape case created quite a stir in the International platform. Australian documentary films are nonetheless awe-inspiring as they also deal with interesting issues and are creatively presented to the audience. 

The national Capital also witnessed some of the Australian Documentaries as India International Centre hosted a film festival where award-winning documentaries were shown from July 23-25. 

Two documentarians Martin Butler and Pat Fiske, who happened to be in the city for their documentary films, talked about film-making, Australian historical heritage and much more.

When asked whether getting into film-making was harder than continuing in the industry, Martin Butler said, “Both are extremely hard but getting started is harder because one does not have the funds or contacts that would facilitate in becoming a documentary film-maker. Money is invested in your work once you gain experience in film-making. Experience makes it easier to get noticed.” Pat Fiske added, “During our time in the 70’s we had access to government funds which was provided to promote film-making and we could explore the art of film-making and learn on the job. At that time the government was putting in a lot of money so we learned by participating but nowadays film schools have come up which did not exist in our time (to Butler) wouldn’t you agree? To which Butler replied “Yes. It is indeed tough to become a documentarian and I suspect one has to be lucky.”

Talking about the industry, Butler added, “The Australian film industry is quite big compared to the size of the country and they make quite a number of feature films each year. It is nothing like the size of India obviously, but I think that Australia is stronger in documentary film-making. There are a number of complicated reasons for that but Australian films are bold and they take on interesting, confronting topics and subjects and use them in an innovative way. Indian audience should be advised to watch Australian films, especially, the documentaries. There are a lot of interesting subjects covered, I’d be surprised if they're already covered in India.”

Martin Butler talked about his documentary First Footprints, where he described Australia’s ancient history. He explained how it covers the history of fifty thousand years before the arrival of White Australians. He said, “It is generally assumed that the Aboriginal Australians were too primitive though the research has found out that they were technologically advanced. They were pioneers in sea faring being the first people in the world to cross the ocean. They had explored the ocean when nobody else did. They were also the first ones to make pictures and sculptures. If one would visit the remote areas of Australia, one would find such sculptures and paintings.” He added that Australia is also rich in cultural heritage like India.

Pat Fiske, described her two documentary films Scarlet Rose and Love Marriage in Kabul that were shown in the festival.

Scarlet Rose follows the extraordinary life of an Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele —people with disability.

In the documentary Love Marriage in Kabul, Mahboba Rawi is a strong-willed Afghan-Australian woman who has dedicated her life in helping orphans in Afghanistan. She is the founder of Mahboba’s Promise and a mother figure for thousands of orphans and widows currently supported by her programs. 

The story revolves around one of the girls from her orphanage who falls in love with a boy-next-door and all the problems that she faces in getting them married.