Nashen Moodley steps into the spotlight tonight Photo: Tendai Dzwairo
When the Sydney Film Festival opened with the world premiere of Australian comedy Not Suitable for Children, it was with a new director at the helm.
Nashen Moodley, born in South Africa in 1978, comes to Sydney with a distinguished portfolio in film programming that includes a decade as head of South Africa’s Durban International Film Festival (2001–2011) and seven years as director of AsiaAfrica Programs for the Dubai International Film Festival.
He has been very active on the international film festival scene, and has acted as advisor to many festivals including India’s International Film Festival of Kerala, South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival and Africala in Mexico City.
But this is his first contact with Sydney’s festival. In fact, he’d never been to Australia when he came out for his three-day interview.
“When I first started speaking to the Sydney Film Festival about the position, it seemed like a really great place to present a film festival. It’s a great city and I loved the magnificent State Theatre,” he said.
“And everyone was very welcoming. I got on well with the staff and we obviously have a shared vision for the festival. Coming here just made a lot of sense.
“It was also a great opportunity and provided a chance to work with a much larger audience – about 120,000 people attend each year.”
It’s evident he is excited to present his first festival of his four-year contract and just wants to soak up the experience.
“You can research and learn a lot from what you read, from data; you can check what films people are eager to see and where. All this stuff I can study but for me it’s vital to experience the festival.
“Right now I want to learn about the audience, how they move around the festival and what further benefits visitors can extract from being here.”
He also wants to see more filmmakers visiting more industry activities and thinks it’s important that the festival created a central space: “We’ve done that with the introduction of The Hub.”
Ask Moodley for his tips on what to catch during this festival and he has a long list.
“I’ve admired Cate Shortland and Tony Krawitz for a long time. It’s fantastic to have their films in my first competition.
“And Thailand’s Pen-ek Ratanaruang is an old favourite of mine. I really love his work. He’s never attended any festival I’ve done before. I’ve invited him every time and it’s great that’s it’s finally happening. I’ve been haranguing him since September.
“Mohammad Rasoul of Iran is a dear friend and a hero of mine. We’ve been working on his visa and I’ll be very happy if he makes it here.
“Overall I’m excited we’re going to have 150 guests. It’s a great opportunity for filmmakers to interact with each other.”
Moodley has been watching the Australian film scene for years and said the festival has improved a great deal and grown in international reputation.
He has long been a fan of Indigenous films and has included such classics as Beneath Clouds, Rabbit Proof Fence and Samson and Delilah in his festival programming over the years.
“They’re really great stories and the performances are fantastic,” he said.
“I’ve always been attracted to the idea that films can change the world, can change perceptions, that film – and all art for that matter – can make arguments about justice, about human rights. Those films achieve that. They’re powerful stories.”
Other Australian films on his list of favourites include Somersault, The Castle and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
“But my liking for Australian films goes beyond that. What distinguishes Australian film? It’s very broad and I think that’s a good thing. The Australian film industry is healthy because there’s a broad range of cinema being made here.”
It’s interesting that despite his evident love for his work, Moodley fell into it almost by accident. In fact, he nearly became a lawyer.
“I always loved cinema, but I also loved literature and music,” he said.
“I started studying law and hated it. I took a year off uni and in that time edited the student paper. When I got back to studying I dropped law and took up philosophy.”
The student paper won awards and Moodley was asked to write for a mainstream newspaper. “That’s how I got into journalism; I never aimed to be a journalist.”
But he never aimed to be a festival director either.
“You never think of film programming as a career. Most of the people who work in that line got into it by chance. You don’t usually set out thinking you want to be a festival director.”
Moodley loves Australian literature and enjoyed Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap describing is as “fresh, contemporary, wild and dangerous”. But he would not be drawn on naming a favourite for his other passion: cricket.
“I love the game too much to pick favourites. I’m partial to the game, not to any one team.”
