Interview: shooting a major international co-production

On a rain-darkened street in Melbourne, a camera crane rises above the tram wires as a film crew prepares its next shot. The scene will connect a Bangladeshi family’s past with their new life in Australia, bringing two distinct landscapes into one visual story.

Khola Janala speaks with Leela Rahman, a Dhaka-born cinematographer based in Melbourne, about working on a major international co-production between Australia, Bangladesh and Singapore. The untitled project follows three generations of a family whose lives are reshaped by migration, romance and the changing seasons.

Rahman discovered her interest in lenses and light while helping her father, a documentary cameraman, cover community events in Dhaka. Formal training in Australia later gave her a technical foundation, but she regards collaboration as the real education of any production.

The film represents a growing kind of creative partnership. Australian financing and production expertise meet Bangladeshi storytelling and Singaporean post-production, with each country contributing both practical resources and a distinctive cinematic perspective.

From Dhaka to Melbourne

Rahman first joined the project during its development, when the directors were comparing scripts set in several locations. She advocated for filming in Melbourne because the city’s mix of glass towers, Victorian terraces and working-class streets could suggest both opportunity and displacement without relying on obvious landmarks.

“We wanted places that could hold more than one meaning,” she explains. “Dhaka tells you about density and momentum. Melbourne gives you space to look inside a character, but the city also has this quiet tension underneath its polish.”

That contrast shaped the camera approach. Handheld movement accompanies the younger characters, while locked-off frames give older characters room to breathe. Rahman says the shift emerged naturally from the script rather than from a predetermined visual formula.

Designing a shared visual language

Working across cultures requires careful decisions about what to emphasise and what to leave unspoken. Rahman says she discussed colour, framing and performance with the directors before discussing cameras, ensuring that technical choices supported the characters rather than announcing them.

The production uses warm amber and deep green in Dhaka, then shifts toward pale blue and clean daylight in Melbourne. “The palette changes because the emotional temperature changes,” Rahman says. “I do not want colour to explain the feelings. I want it to remain beside them, almost like a second voice.”

Her background helps her identify visual clichés that could turn Bangladeshi life into an exotic backdrop for an Australian audience. She was particularly cautious with food, market and family scenes, preferring small, observed gestures over staged symbolism.

Rahman also worked with local actors to adjust performance without erasing their individual styles. “Australian directing can value directness and speed, while Bangladeshi screen acting often has more space for subtle expression,” she says. “The answer is not to make everyone behave the same.”

Filming across Australian locations

Most interior scenes were filmed at a major studio complex in Moore Park, where the production department built apartments, a hospital corridor and a crowded restaurant. The controlled environment allowed the crew to create continuity while working around Melbourne’s unpredictable traffic and weather.

Outdoor material brought the unit into the city’s laneways and towards Docklands. Local knowledge shaped practical decisions: which alleys could accommodate a dolly, where reflections might interfere with a shot and when trams would fill a frame with movement.

The Australian crew’s informal language became part of the rhythm. “Arvo” means afternoon, “no dramas” signals that a problem is manageable, and an approving “beaut” can end a difficult setup. Rahman says these expressions made the international unit feel less divided.

“Australian crews are direct without being unnecessarily harsh,” she notes. “If something is not working, people say so quickly. That clarity saved us time, especially when the schedule crossed time zones.”

The changing daylight created another challenge. Bangladesh’s light and seasons differ sharply from those of southern Australia, so Rahman tested exposure and colour settings extensively before principal photography. She also planned around sudden coastal weather, which could halt an exterior take in minutes.

Financing and the Australian market

Rahman describes the production as a genuinely international co-production rather than an Australian film with overseas financing attached. Australian production finance was combined with investment from regional partners, while Screen Australia’s funding pathways and production incentives helped support local expenditure.

The arrangement gave the film access to experienced crews, laboratories and post-production facilities. It also placed greater responsibility on the team to explain why an Australian setting mattered to the story and how the project would connect with audiences in multiple markets.

Local distributors understand the value of culturally specific films, while streaming platforms regularly commission international stories for global catalogues. Australian audiences, Rahman believes, are willing to cross borders when a film offers emotional honesty rather than simplified explanations.

Financing did not determine every artistic choice, she insists. “Budget pressures are real, but they should shape what is practical, not what the audience is allowed to understand,” she says. “A co-production succeeds when every country feels like a genuine creative partner.”

Training the next camera team

Rahman completed parts of her cinematography training in Melbourne and has since taught on short-film courses, particularly for students interested in documentary and migration stories. She continues to mentor younger camera assistants through practical workshops and production work.

Aspiring filmmakers can also explore film education resources covering the technical and creative skills required for a camera career. Rahman believes that access to equipment matters, but mentorship matters just as much.

Her advice to new cinematographers is simple: learn the craft, understand the story and remain generous on set. She recalls an early lesson from a senior operator who showed her how to build a useful relationship with the focus puller, lighting team and assistant director.

“Those people determine whether the day works,” Rahman says. “A camera is important, but it cannot create trust by itself.”

A future built through collaboration

Rahman expects international productions to become more fluid, with camera crews moving between established hubs and new centres such as Dhaka. She sees greater use of virtual production, smaller digital packages and remote colour workflows, although she warns against treating technology as a substitute for location knowledge.

Future collaborations will also require stronger production practices around translation, contracts and creative credit. Clear communication protects a film when language, finance and cultural expectations differ across three countries.

The cinematographer says the most valuable part of working abroad is the exchange of methods. Australian efficiency has influenced her planning, while she has encouraged the production to create more space for observation and family performance.

“I used to think international work meant bringing your own style to someone else’s country,” she says. “Now I think it means finding a visual language that belongs to the whole film.”

Follow Khola Janala for more conversations with the artists shaping Bangladeshi, Australian and international screen culture, and explore its education coverage for practical pathways into film and television.