DOCO CELEBRATION OF INDIAN SCIFI SET FOR AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE AT SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL
Arunava Gangopadhyay’s KALPAVIGYAN: A SPECULATIVE JOURNEY, a documentary that charts the growth, impact and profound legacy of Bengali science fiction storytellers, will have it’s Australian Premiere at the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival in November.
A production of the University of Oslo’s CoFUTURES international research group, the film chronicles the visionary authors and artists who have championed science fiction in Bengali culture for over a century. The Bengali term ‘kalpavigyan’ (কল্পবি জ্ঞান) translates as ‘stories of imaginative science’.
Explored in Gangopadhyay’s film are such influential developments as the genre magazines of the 1960s-80s and the contributors who ignited the movement by giving it shape and form; the passion for speculative narratives embodied by such names as Adrish Bardhan, Satyajit Ray, Premendra Mitra, and Leela Majumdar; and, the drive and commitment to publish that made the magic of Kalpavigyan happen amidst bleak business realities, harsh poverty and political influence.
“Kalpavigyan: A Speculative Journey is the combined vision of a filmmaking team working from a collective heart and soul,” said Festival Director Simon Foster. “It provides deeply personal insights into how great artists who love science fiction fought, and continue to fight, to tell the stories of their imagination.”
“The production team is incredibly honoured to have the Australian premiere of Kalpavigyan at the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival,” said producer Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay. “We are out-of-this-world excited to showcase the history of Bangla and Indian science fiction to Australian audiences, and thrilled to be a part of this grand celebration of speculative futures from across countries, cultures, and continents. Thank you to the festival team for this opportunity, and we can’t wait to share our work with the audience and juries.”
Kalpavigyan is the latest addition to a festival program that is shaping as a truly international platform. Already announced are the Chilean/Italian co-production, Vera de Verdad; the U.S indie No Tomorrow; U.K. short film Hiraeth; the Austrian stop-motion work, Miniature Landscapes - in Space; and, four new works from Australian directors.
“Our festival’s key aim is to create a hub for the international science-fiction community,” said Foster, “and only by learning about how the genre impacts different global regions can we fully comprehend the worldwide reach of our favourite genre.”
The screening of Kalpavigyan: A Speculative Journey will be the centrepiece of an evening celebrating Indian science fiction culture, held in conjunction with local diaspora community groups and Sydney-based Indian media.
Further details of the event will be released in coming weeks.
The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will be held November 4-13 at the Actors Centre Australia in Sydney.
