FILM
FILMOGRAPHY
Land of the Warthogs
Synopsis:
“This allegorical stage performance tells the story of Persephone in dreamtime. Warts are an acronym for the “war against real thinking syndrome”
This allegorical stage performance recreates the Land of the Warthogs poem in spoken word performance poetry where Persephone is an alien in dreamtime and where warts are an acronym for the “war against real thinking syndrome”.
A theatrical spoken word subtitled film about an alien falling from grace it encapsulated the legacy of my earlier poetry as a” soul tortured by past life memories trying to make it right in this life”
It was created in 1992 at an artist squat called the Gunnery Wolloomooloo Sydney as a live performance to camera with the intention of becoming a film.
2001 rescued and edited in Footscray Film school by Andrew Chiocus after finding the original predigital footage missing for seven years.
Screened as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival 2001 at Revolver nightclub and a pop up venue in Brunswick where it was performed as media fusion
It was requested for Sydney Mardi Gras short film event shown at the Dendy Theatre between 2003-5
Aftershock
Synopsis:
Christchurch earthquake 2011 changed the shape culture and history of my birthtown forever. I was compelled to go home and record the real effect of the destruction on the locals to rest my soul due to the lack of coverage in Australian mainstream media.
Inspite of the aftershocks that kept everyone in constant fear of further quakes many survivors found new strength in groups of strangers creating ingenious ways around the loss of homes infrastructure and morale. The soundtrack was written a few years before but when I played the song to the locals they identified so strongly it emerged as part of the film while interviewees talked about their struggle to make sense of the destruction and loss
Shadows in the Water
Synopsis:
“Shadows in the Water”is a documentary protest in two parts, the first is about two local timber millers turned furniture makers, secondly, is about the protest by well known Tasmanian artists.
Launceston Artist Installation was in the Tamar where the old growth forests were being reduced to paper pulp and replaced by plantation trees causing the towns drinking water to become clogged with dangerous chemicals.
I was blessed to meet Ralph Hartel a textile artist and co coordinator for “Shadows in the Water” an artists protest against logging the old growth forests and poisoning the towns drinking water in Launceston Tasmania.
He introduced me to two ex timber millers who had joined the protest and were very active.
I filmed the installation and trek to the destroyed areas in one day. A few weeks later I filmed the exhibition and the documentary was made in two parts.
As an emerging independent film maker I spent six months editing it on a retro portable cassablanca. My isolated nights without TV left me no choice but to learn editing.
My days were as an art teacher on the west coast of Tasmania below cradle mountain in a town called Rosebery that had become cut of during one of the worst snow falls for many years .
Landmines
Synopsis
A well known photojounalist John Rodsted holds his exhibition at the Addison Road Gallery in Marrackville Sydney 2005.
His photos and discussions of Bosnian landmine victims tell their stories more than powerfully than words to draw our attention to the horrors of a war that never ends for these civilians.
He names the corporations who still manufacture these weapons that are complicit in continuous war crimes.
As a student with Art Resistance and Actively Radical TV on the heels of the 9/11 twin towers event I turned to documentary making.
This was my student graduation film with Art Resistance.
I became politically active under their guidance to help fight what was becoming a media and information war between mainstream media propaganda and ground zero alternative reporting of current events.
It won an award at the Glebe Valhalla Activist Film Festival at that time
Grafton Nimby Bridge
Grafton TAFE music and film department shot this footage of my original song and performance of the Grafton NIMBY bridge song.
It sealed my fate as a protest singer songwriter as well as film maker.
At the end of my Grafton TAFE music course 2013 we were all required to produce and perform an original song with a selected group of student musicians.
I chose the Grafton Nimby Bridge as I was petitioning against the possibility the bridge would end up in my back yard and devalue my property and my street.
Can’t See the Trees for the CSG
Synopsis
A documentary that began as a protest song to educate the public as to the dangers of coal seam gas.
The Northern Rivers fought back against CSG corporate greed contaminating the environment and endangering the livelihoods and health of this beautiful part of Australia.
I became part of the movement to stop this particular form of mining and produced this short film for local festivals at the same time as many well known film makers turned activist to stop the coal seam gas rush and raise public awareness nationally and internationally.
Seeing Things
Synopsis
A retired english teacher and her partner become fascinated by Tasmanias history according to local ghost stories and gravestones. Buck and Joan Emberg are no longer alive but their quaint narration of the lesser known stories of the past live on in this film.
Before digital technology I created this film using a huge VHS camera loaned to me by Deakin University as part of my fourth year upgrade for Bachelor of Education.
I hadnt learned editing at this stage so it was an expensive exercise in that regard. After numerous rendering glitches I began to feel the ghosts were trying out new editing techniques at my expense.