Filmmaker at global folk festival

The University of Newcastle lecturer and filmmaker has travelled to the village of Gannat since 1995, for an event that causes a sleepy village to become flooded with more than 10 times its normal population.

Each July, 65,000 people from all over the world journey to Gannat for one reason - to celebrate folk culture and traditions at an event known as Festival Les Cultures du Monde (the Festival of World Cultures).

The French town becomes transformed with music and performances over the 10-day festival (July 18-29), creating an atmosphere charged with excitement.

Folk groups from more than 20 countries made up of more than 400 performers are in the one place, making it one of the largest gatherings of folk performers in the world. Many cannot even speak the same language, but somehow a shared passion of music and dance brings them together.

It sounds like a distant world. But for media production lecturer Dr Kishore, this is a world he hopes to capture for Australian audiences, as he travels to Gannat with a team of University of Newcastle students to film a documentary.

Indian-born Kishore first joined the festival as a performer of a traditional martial arts-based routine known as Chauu dance. The Indian folk dance is performed with masks that represent Hindu mythology, along with some other props that caught his attention as a child.

"My brother and I saw that you got to play with swords, bows and arrows and that was it," he says.

Over the past 18 years Dr Kishore has returned to Gannat in his capacity as both a performer and a filmmaker.

Each time he visits the festival he is reminded of what he calls the "celebration of the way of human life", as people who have never left their own country before are suddenly surrounded by a global audience.

"Last year's focus group was a tribe from the Amazon in Brazil that has hardly any connection with the outside world," he says.

"It was the first time they had contact with people outside of Brazil and they got to share some of their traditions in front of the French audience."

It is this strange sense of connection he hopes to capture by filming a television-length documentary.

Joined by a team of five bachelor of communication students, Dr Kishore hopes the project will mean great worldly exposure for the Newcastle students.

"I think this is an excellent opportunity for the students to experience the diverse cultures of the world in one place," Dr Kishore says.

Along with filming their own documentary, the University of Newcastle team will be working alongside French media to help with the coverage of the festival.

Jacob Stuart is excited by that prospect. The final-year bachelor of communication (media production) student has not travelled outside of Australia before and is eager for what lies ahead in France.

"The thing I am looking forward to the most is the opportunity to work with people from all around the world," Stuart says.

The media team will showcase their documentary in Newcastle later in the year, with Vikrant Kishore hoping to share the experience with a wider audience by pitching it to broadcast on national television.