New documentary film uniquely showcases the contributions of migrants in Australia

The film centres around a table of people sharing memories of home, culture and loss, and seeking connection in food

We are all displaced in our own ways," Indian-Australian filmmaker and author Nandita Chakraborty tells us over the phone from her home in Melbourne. Earlier this month, she was in the city to attend the premiere of her documentary Shared Table: Regional Heroes at the Mumbai International Film Festival. The film brings together the stories of four Australian migrants who left homes and families to forge new narratives of identity, survival, and hope in regional Australia.

The theme of migration dominates on both sides of the camera. "It was also made by migrants," Chakraborty, who was born in Kolkata to Bengali film producer Dhiresh Kumar Chakraborty who produced films like Mrinal Sen's Akaler Shandhaney and Chalchitra, tells us. Chakraborty moved to Australia in 2000, and points to other members of her crew like producer Niru Tripathi, who left Nepal about 15 years ago, and cinematographer Sam Thang Man of Burmese-Chin descent, who has lived in Malaysia and New Zealand. All of them have known the struggles and resilience of starting a new life in a new country.

Nandita Chakraborty. PIC/The Artsy Shutters

"I understand the emotions - the excitement, uncertainty, challenges, and determination to create a sense of belonging and adapt to a new culture, while preserving traditions and building a future for the next generation," says Tripathi, who founded CALD Community Voices in 2023, a non-profit organisation that focuses on advocacy, education and community-building for culturally and linguistically diverse individuals. "While every migrant story is unique, I found similarities between my experience and those of the people who feature in the film. It helped me build trust with participants and allowed them to tell their stories openly and authentically," adds Tripathi, "This documentary is not just about the people on the screen, it is also a reflection of the sheer range of experience that connects migrant communities across Australia. It celebrates the idea that while our backgrounds may be different, our hopes, challenges and aspirations are often remarkably similar."

Niru Tripathi

Shared Table: Regional Heroes, which has received support from the State Government of Victoria in southeastern Australia, presents diverse accounts: there is Thablay Sher, a member of a group of settlers from the Karen community that fled the violence of the Burmese military regime; Reza Kareem whose father arrived from Afghanistan by boat and was held at a detention centre for several years, and Ali Ramzan who hid from the Taliban in the boot of a car while crossing over to Afghanistan from Pakistan to acquire a passport for his niece.

Through community organisations, local leaders, cultural groups, and word of mouth, the film's team discovered individuals who were building businesses, supporting new arrivals, initiating connections between different groups and strengthening their local communities, and travelled through Mildura, Shepparton, Nhill and Gippsland in regional Victoria meeting and interviewing them. "We felt that these were true heroes living and contributing in regional communities, but their stories were rarely seen in mainstream media where most of the attention was focused on the major cities. The voices of migrants, refugees, and community leaders in regional areas often remained invisible," Tripathi shares. Urban centres undoubtedly offer more opportunity and diversity, but there is greater support and a stronger sense of community in regional spaces, insists the Melbourne-based Tripathi. "We have found our retirement spot," both women tell us.

While the regional focus was Tripathi's idea, the concept of the shared table - where people exchange memories of home, culture, and separation, and seek comfort and connection in food - grew out of a meal of chicken curry hosted by Chakraborty. "That simple idea of a shared table basically started from my kitchen, and then we wanted to create a larger table with people from all walks of life," she tells us. The film resultantly builds towards a segment mediated by chef Kishwar Chowdhury, where the individuals we encounter in the course of the film gather around a table of dishes as varied as Nepalese Momos, Afghan Mantu, a traditional Karen rice porridge called Takapaw [from the Karen peoples of Myanmar and Thailand] and Bengali Sandesh.

"It was the food that I missed the most," recalls Chakraborty of her early days in Australia. She remembers carrying aloo paratha, Parle G biscuits, puffed rice, and kathi rolls from home to share with others. Food helped to bond and was also, for the migrant, at the centre of new social expectations, where, once asked to "bring a plate" to a barbecue, she turned up, hesitantly, with an empty plate only to realise that she had been expected to bring some food to the gathering. "We lose ourselves in translation but then we're also able to find ourselves, teaching others our culture."