Festival brings new colours to Australian screens
According to Colourfest festival director Gary Paramanathan, the Australian screen industry is lacking ethnic and cultural diversity because creatives from different backgrounds are not sufficiently motivated to start a film/TV career.
“We need to publicly encourage people from different backgrounds to enter the industry. Many of them are scared to do so because they don’t see their faces and their stories on TV and films, so they think they’ll never get a chance,” Paramanathan told Encore.
That is why Paramanathan and co-director Joseph Hakim have founded Colourfest, a national short film festival that will showcase the work of filmmakers from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, on and off screen.
The Australian film industry is small and, according to Paramanathan, “even Australians aren’t really fond of watching Australian stories”, which makes it difficult for local productions to compete in the global market. To overcome this situation, he believes that Australia should take advantage of its unique multicultural composition, because it is an asset that other industries don’t have.
“One of the key answers is building [screen] cultural diversity. If you look at shows like Underbelly, there are so many people watching, and many of the characters are from different backgrounds: Lebanese, Greek, Italian, etc.
“Our competitive advantage in the future will be the ability to tell migrant stories, experiences that other countries don’t necessarily have. If we tell those stories, we can tap on to the global market,” said Paramanathan.
Currently, the film and television industry in Australia is not portraying the country’s diversity. One of the reasons, says Paramanathan, is that it’s not easy for new migrants to enter the industry at a professional level, and that first generation Australians from migrant families are under-represented in the media.
This absence of cultural diversity in the media – despite the increasing number of migrants and Australians from non-English speaking backgrounds – has inspired Paramanathan to organise a festival that will create a space for them to tell their stories and enter the industry. It will also allow the mainstream media and audiences to see new and different ideas and points of view.
“We want to get as many members of the mainstream audience as possible, but we also want industry people to watch these stories and maybe get some inspiration and ideas from them.
“Colourfest is a platform for people who work in the industry to see the stories that culturally diverse creatives are making. It also puts them in contact with people they might want to work with,” said Paramanathan
Films entered into the festival must be less than two years old, under 14 minutes of duration and with at least one key cast or crew member from a culturally diverse background.
Although anyone can enter, Paramanathan expects certain groups to have a stronger presence; stories from the ethnic communities that have been in Australia for decades, such as Greeks and Italians, are what the co-director is looking forward to seeing, as well as stories from the newest waves of migrants such as Africans.
“There’s been bad press about how they have problems integrating to our society, and problems with crime, so I’d like to see how they’re living their experience in Australia. It will be interesting for a lot of people,” he said.
Other stories that Paramanathan thinks are very important come from the Asian communities.
“We have Chinese migrants who came here more than 100 years ago, and now have new Indian and South-east Asian migrants. Many Asian countries are interested in film, and they don’t necessarily see us connecting with them,” explained Paramanathan.
But no matter the source, all films have to present a connection between the ethnic communities and the rest of Australia.
In terms of a demographic change in the mainstream media, the co-director admitted that there’s still a long way to go to make it happen, but he hopes that Colourfest will be one of the steps that will encourage people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds to build a presence in the industry.
“It’s just the beginning. As Australia grows its population, economically and culturally, we’re going to see many more interesting stories and different directors. The future will be very interesting,” he said.
Colourfest will be held on May 21 at the Red Rattler Theatre in Marrickville, Sydney, and the audience will vote for its favourite film on the night.
More information is available at www.organonfilms.com/colourfest
-by Tasama Vatanaputi
