When Deepak Rauniyar became the first Nepali director to be among the five-member jury panel at the 2017 Sydney Film Festival, it was confidence boosting news for many aspiring filmmakers within Australia’s Nepali community.
Rauniyar is fast becoming an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, with his second feature film ‘White Sun’, co-produced by Hollywood star Danny Glover.
Sydney filmmaker Manoj Adhikari credits Rauniyar for helping him start his career in the film industry. He’s now making his own films and working in local productions in Australia.
Deepak Rauniyar was the first Nepali director to be among the five-member jury panel at Sydney Film Festival in 2017 Source: Facebook/Sydney Film Festival
Adhikari's latest work is the Nepali horror film ‘Sunkesari’, due to be released in Australia on 25 May 2018.
It is the first ever Nepali horror movie to be made in Australia and was co-produced by renowned Nepali writer and director Arpan Thapa and actor Reecha Sharma.
The plot centres on an Australian palace built in the 1880s converted into a hotel, and strange tales of supernatural beings living amongst the hotel’s corridors. Source: Sunkesari
The film tells the story of strange supernatural beings that dwell amongst the corridors of an Australian palace constructed in the 1880s and converted into a boutique hotel.
Speaking to SBS Nepali, Adhikari says the cast and crew in the movie reflect Australia’s cultural diversity.
“The relationship between Nepali and white Australian characters in the movie and the diverse group of crew members is what truly makes it an Australian movie,” he says.
The film's lead characters include Sunny Dhakal, who came to Australia 10 years ago from Nepal, and Australian actor Lauren Lofberg, who plays the role of Emma.
George Saliba, who has worked on films including ‘The Hobbit’, ‘X- Men’ and the ‘Star Wars’ series, is the stunt coordinator and Rah Sharma is film’s cinematographer.
It’s the first time Lauren Lofberg, George Saliba and Rah Sharma have worked in a Nepali-Australian production.
“The diversity amongst the people working in the film was something that made the overall experience more fun,” says Ms Lofberg.
The film's lead characters include Sunny Dhakal, who came to Australia 10 years ago from Nepal, and Australian actor Lauren Lofberg, who plays the role of Emma. Source: Supplied
She wants to see more of such diversity in other Australian made movies as well.
“At times, Australia’s film industry plays it ‘too safe’, but if I had my way-way then I would invite more foreign filmmakers from overseas to help the industry grow,” she said.
For stunt coordinator George Saliba, it was also the first time he had worked in a Nepali Australian production. Culturally, though, it was very different to what he is used to.
Saliba gives an example of the cast and crew members having their lunch break together; he says people cared about one another and that it won’t take too long for people from migrant communities to get involved in the mainstream film industry in Australia.
“The film industry doesn’t have any bias or cultural or moral hiccups”, he says. “And it won’t be long before high-quality work is being recognised here by the industry.”
He says he thinks it’s about the exposure of quality work.
That is something that people such as Manoj Adhikari and Sunny Dhakal think about a lot.
They want to take ‘Sunkesari’ to a mainstream Australian audience.
“I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but I don’t know how long that tunnel is”, says Dhakal.
It is the first ever Nepali horror movie to be made in Australia and was co-produced by renowned Nepali actor Reecha Sharma and writer/director Arpan Thapa. Source: Facebook, Supplied
