Australian director Rolf de Heer (third from right) and Australian Consul General in Shanghai John Williams (third from left) pose for a photo at the event on June 19, 2024. Photo: Courtesy of the Australian Consulate-General in Shanghai

Chinese and foreign film enthusiasts on Wednesday interacted with Australian director Rolf de Heer, also member of the international jury for the Golden Goblet Award in main competition for 2024 Shanghai International Film Festival during the Focus Australia film showcase in Shanghai.

The Australian Embassy in China, the Australian Consulate-General in Shanghai, and the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) jointly presented the Focus Australia film showcase at the 2024 SIFF, which runs from June 14 to 23. This is the first time the SIFF has featured a Focus Australia showcase.

The showcase includes six films, ranging from all-time classics to stories about contemporary Australian life. They present a broad cross-section of Australian culture, including Australia’s multicultural society and First Nations peoples and stories and highlight Australia’s acting and filmmaking talent, and its appeal as a filmmaking destination with its breathtaking landscapes and beautiful cityscapes, according to the Australian Consulate-General in Shanghai.

The showcase includes two films directed by De Heer, who is one of Australia’s best known and most prolific film makers of the past three decades. “Focus Australia includes his newest film The Survival of Kindness, which won the top prize awarded by the International Federation of Film Critics, the Fipresci Critics Prize, at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, and his 2013 film Charlie’s Country,” John Williams, Australian Consul General in Shanghai, told moviegoers on Wednesday night prior to the screening of The Survival of Kindness.

The movie started with a nameless black woman abandoned in the middle of a desert in a locked cage. She escapes and walks through pestilence and persecution, from desert to canyon to mountain to city… recaptured and re-escapes.  

After the 96-minute screening, Chinese and foreign film enthusiasts interacted with De Heer on the theme, the cinema language and the inspirations of the film.

Responding to the question whether the film is too hopeless, De Heer said that “it’s not what I want to convey that there is no hope,” although the writing and shooting of the film were conducted during the pandemic.

He told the Global Times that the theme of The Survival of Kindness was expressed by the character, the black woman, “who showed passion, empathy among other personalities even in very difficult circumstances,” which is the inspiration of the film. 

The Focus Australia film showcase consists of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Proof (1991), Charlie’s Country (2013), The Survival of Kindness (2022), Talk to Me (2023) and Limbo (2023).

China has just included Australia in the list countries enjoying visa-free treatment, which will boost bilateral exchanges including cultural and tourism activities, observers said. Moviegoers expected that there will be more Chinese films entering Australian market and more Australians coming to China.