An award-winning feature length Australian film with a close tie to Canberra will enjoy a one-week season at Dendy Canberra later this month.
Canberra-based screenwriter and videographer, Shamini Singhal, had the opportunity to ply her trade on new multicultural romantic drama Get a Life, Alright!, that will screen at Dendy from 19 May.
The film enjoyed its world premiere at The Australian High Commission International Film Festival in Singapore, also taking out the Hong Kong International Indie Film Festival’s best drama feature.
Shamini, a precociously talented 24-year-old, told Canberra Daily she was brought onto the project as a screenwriter to lend a level of cultural authenticity to the work.
Shamini had a connection to writer, director, and producer Joy Hopwood, having worked on her 2020 feature Rhapsody of Love as a camera operator.
She joined pre-production in mid-late 2020 as writer and then got behind the camera when filming started in March 2021.
“She didn’t want to write it by herself and wanted to bring that authentic perspective of being from a north Indian family,” Shamini said.
“Having migrated to Australia myself and being in the media industry, I thought I could give that perspective to her.”
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Personally appointed by Joy, Shamini felt confident and at ease offering feedback on the project to ensure her northern Indian culture was depicted accurately.
“When it came to production design, writing, costumes, everything matters, so if I saw something in the script or on set, she really asked for my input in those places to make it look authentic, otherwise it’s just not believable and is kind of offensive,” Shamini said.
“The very small things really mattered … It was really enjoyable, and we had a good working relationship.”
Getting to be a part of an authentic representation of her culture on the silver screen was a satisfying experience for Shamini.
“To be able to pull of something like that that’s rooted in middle-class Australia and in the sphere of multiculturalism and diversity was fresh and different, because we always see far away realities,” she said.
“It was really empowering and satisfying that I could have my input be heard and now seen.”
Speaking a few weeks out from the Canberra premiere, Shamini is very excited to share Get a Life, Alright! with local audiences.
“It’s one of those movies, when people watch it, they’ll have an inside view of a Punjabi south-Asian family,” she said.
“It’ll be eye-opening, it’s very heart-warming, very wholesome, the plot is very easy to understand, but in it’s simplicity there’s lots of complexities that root from multiculturalism and being POC (people of colour) in the media industry.”
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Born and raised in New Delhi, Shamini moved to Australia in 2017 to study media at Macquarie University, where she uncovered her love of cinematography.
She then relocated to Canberra a year ago to work as an editor assistant at Wildbear Entertainment. Her first experience living in a smaller city, Shamini has greatly enjoyed the change of pace.
“I surprisingly really liked that transition, and I had a great job to help me through it,” she said.
“I feel like people, whenever they come to Canberra, automatically become nicer.
“You can feel the difference, it might be small, but I really love the local culture … it’s very wholesome, I love it.”
Get a Life, Alright! will screen at Dendy Canberra on 19-24 May; dendy.com.au
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