Bina Bhattacharya is the creative head of Gemme de La Femme Pictures working as producer, writer and director

Bina Bhattacharya is an award-winning filmmaker from Campbelltown in Sydney’s south-west. She is a Writer for the feature film “Here Out West” about the intersecting lives of Western Sydney’s migrant communities which opened the 2021 Sydney Film Festival. "Here Out West" received development and production funding from Screen Australia, the ABC and Create NSW, with Bina attached as a writer from the project’s inception. 

As a director, her credits include the music video for the debut single of Indian-Australian musician Parvyn Singh's solo album, featured in Rolling Stone India. 

Bina was awarded Best Screenplay for her short film "Musings" at Sydney’s Made in the West Film Festival, which also screened at the 2018 Melbourne Queer Film Festival. Her 2017 short film "Wild Dances" won the Audience Choice Award at the Made in the West Film Festival as well as screening at international festivals as well as Mardi Gras Film Festival and Melbourne Queer Film Festival. 

Bina is the daughter of a Bengali Indian migrant father and a white-Australian mother and draws on her diverse cultural experiences into her artistic practice. She is currently being mentored by Australian auteur Rolf de Heer. 

Bina also works as Creative Producer - Youth and Emerging at PYT Fairfield, Western Sydney's leading professional theatre company with a focus on youth. PYT Fairfield have generously supported the development of "From All Sides".

Feature Film

From All Sides

Synopsis:

A mother's former life as a professional dancer resurfaces, catapulting each member of her family into parallel journeys of cultural and sexual awakening, unearthing a minefield of race relations, class tension and sexuality in the outer suburbs of Sydney. 

"American Beauty", but set in contemporary Australia in south-west Sydney, with a multi racial brown family at the centre, "From All Sides" is a dark suburban satire. 

The film tells the story of Indian-Australian Anoushka, a former Bharatanatyam dancer who made the crossover into contemporary dance and then soon after left, disillusioned. She’s now a middle-aged mother living in suburbia, balancing motherhood and a covert open relationship with her bisexual husband. 

The life of her family begins to unravel when her former career starts to resurface as her teenage daughter Nina prepares to audition for a state-level schools dance ensemble. .

Wild Dances

Gemme de la Femme Pictures’ signature film is the narrative short ‘Wild Dances’, about Australia’s peculiar love affair with the Eurovision Song Contest. Set in 2004 when Ruslana wins Eurovision for Ukraine, it follows the life of a shy, closeted, Australian boy and a spirited Ukrainian-Australian girl who cast off the shackles of their conservative rural town and learn that life begins when you dance to your own beat.

'Wild Dances' was made with the full blessing and co-operation of the European Broadcasting Union. It was also made with the participation of Sydney’s Ukrainian community who collaborated on the development, script and production.

The film premiered on the night of the 2017 Eurovision Grand Final and has proven a hit with audiences in Sydney, Melbourne, Boston, Berlin, Manchester (UK), Edmonton (Canada) and San Jose, California. It had its North American Premiere at the 2017 Rainbow Visions Film Festival in Edmonton, Canada, where it screened before the Closing Night film. It also screened at the 9th Annual San Jose International Short Film Festival (SJSFF) in the USA, the 14th Kinofilm: Manchester International Short Film and Animation Festival (Kinofilm) in the UK,  and as part of the GRRL HAUS CINEMA program in Berlin and Boston. 'Wild Dances' won the Audience Choice award and Best Cinematographer at the Made in the West Film Festival in Sydney. It screened as one of 8 finalists for My Queer Career short film competition as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Film Festival and was the only Australian film screened as part of the Comedy Shorts program at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival. It's most recently screened at the Kyiv International Short Film Festival. 

Follow ‘Wild Dances’ on Facebook @wilddancesfilm and on the IMDb

Musings

‘Musings’ invokes the Almodóvar universe against a distinctly Australian backdrop.

Fearless, scathing and darkly hysterical, ‘Musings’ is a topical and stylish satire in the age of ‘me too’, taking no prisoners in its exploration of ego, vanity and the male gaze as it affects lesbian relationships.

‘Musings', about a frustrated academic who writes monologues for her much younger actress girlfriend, causing her latent jealousy to unravel, is a loving homage to Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, written specifically for Argentinian-Australian actress Alessia Medina as part of Gemme de la Femme’s Showpiece Shorts series. It premiered at an event celebrating Almodóvar’s 69th birthday held at the Australian Film Television and Radio School where Writer/Director Bina Bhattacharya spoke on a panel discussion about ‘Whitewashing’ in Australian films.

‘Musings’ won the ‘Best Screenplay’ Award at Sydney’s Made in the West Film Festival for Bina Bhattacharya, alongside Alessia Medina who also received a Best Actress nomination.

‘Musings’ screened at the 2019 Melbourne Queer Film Festival as part of the appropriately titled ‘Laws of Desire’ short film blocks.

Follow ‘Musings’ on the IMDb

SHOWPIECE SHORTS

SHOWPIECE SHORTS offers actors the chance to workshop and star in a short film written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Bina Bhattacharya. This is perfect for actors looking to build up their CV or diversify their showreel with a meaty and complex role written to their individual strengths.

Check out our video testimonials and watch the films below!

Contact us to find out how you can be involved!

Stepsisters

A casual coffee quickly turns catastrophic as two stepsisters who are done being polite to each other engage in a bitter game of one-upmanship.

Starring: Samantha Skelton and Felicity Jean
Writer and Director: Bina Bhattacharya
Director of Photography: Hari Frohling
First Assistant Director: Jonathan Chapman
Sound: Sam Twyford-Moore
Editor: Alexander McGhee

Another Crack in the Wall

Set in Western Sydney, a stressed grandmother trying to keep it together the days before pay day is tested when her grandsons accidentally crack a wall in their rental property.

Starring: June Holmes, Deren Sen and Sam Dwyer
Writer and Director: Bina Bhattacharya
Director of Photography: Ross Page
First Assistant Director: Jonathan Chapman
Sound: David Bradford
Editor: Alexander McGhee

Cool Badge

An unexpected missed call tests two people from vastly different backgrounds in the heady early days of a new relationship.

Written and Directed by Bina Bhattacharya
Starring Tom Misa and Gemma Scoble

Director of Photography: Hari Frohling
First Assistant Director: Jonathan Chapman
Sound: Sam Twyford-Moore
Editor: Alexander McGhee

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