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Bangladeshi docu at Canberra Short Film Festival

Staff Correspondent
12 Nov 2021 00:00:00 | Update: 12 Nov 2021 01:33:53
Bangladeshi docu at Canberra Short Film Festival

‘What is Australia Day’ a short documentary film directed by Raymond Solomon, an Australian of Bangladeshi descent, will be screened at the Canberra Short Film Festival on November 17.

The documentary starring 8-year-old Adrita Akash and featuring the vocal soundtrack of Shama Rain – all of Bangladeshi origin – is in the running for awards to be announced after the screening of finalists at Canberra’s Dendy Cinemas.

Packing a punch at just over four minutes long, the documentary goes right to the heart of the debate about Australian nationhood, annual observance and memories of indigenous persecution that keeps the country divided as a nation.

Sydney-based migration specialist Raymond Salomonn, also a filmmaker, songwriter – and himself a former refugee – says questions about Australia Day ‘strike at the conscience of humanity’.

Raymond said, “Really it’s easy to ask the most painful question for Australia… but much harder to answer it; in just 4 minutes and 22 seconds we expose the wound of Australia’s bleeding heart. When the nation celebrates its birth in the shadow of centuries of murder and mistreatment, emptiness descends on our conscience. Our dreams of nation-building cannot be achieved by celebrating the imperial theft of Australia from its indigenous people.”

Adrita Akash, a migrant child of 8, learnt about indigenous persecution at school. Growing up in a new country, her own quest for identity remains unresolved as she struggles with the moral dilemma of January 26. In the film she asks the poignant question: “The picture you are painting with Australia Day… shall I paint the same picture too?”

Raymond Salomonn began his career as an aviator in the Bangladesh Air Force, migrated to Australia in 2003. He is also an award-winning songwriter and filmmaker, with his first work, the musical film ‘Baba’.

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