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QPIX STUDENTS ARE TROPFEST FINALISTS
Graduates of QPIX’s 2011 Diploma of Production course have won their way into the finals of TROPFEST, the world’s largest short film festival, with their student production PHOTOBOOTH. Set in the Afghanistan conflict, PHOTOBOOTH is one of a sequence of...
'Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu' Out February 10
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Over The Fence Comedy Film Deadline
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Rottofest 2012: Call For Entries Now Open!
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Geoffrey Rush Joins Tropfest
The acclaimed actor and newly-crowned Australian of the Year, Geoffrey Rush, will be a key player in 2012’s Tropfest activities.
Naomi Watts To Play Princess Diana
The Aussie actress is set to play the people’s princess in an upcoming film that chronicles the final two years of Diana’s life.
Sullivan Stapleton Signs On To ‘300’ Prequel
The Aussie actor has beat out the competition to land a role in the upcoming blockbuster.
James Cameron Loses Long Time Australian Collaborators
Producer Andrew Wight and cinematographer Mike deGruy lose their lives in a helicopter crash.
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Dolphin Sushi Anyone? MIFF Blog, Day 1.
Anthony Roberts explores the program at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
A tantalising MIFF tasting plate to start with; a Romanian comedy/melodrama entrée, followed by a potentially best doco of 2009 main course.
First on the schedule was Silent Wedding, an utterly charming Romanian comedy/melodrama from writer/director Horatiu Malaele. The film opens on the bleak countryside of the Balkan state as a TV crew makes their way into a dilapidated town to film a story for a local news program. What they find in the town are elderly, mournful women dressed in black, and an overtly exuberant yet creepy mature prostitute.
We are quickly transported from the grey austerity to the sun and vivaciousness of 1953, and this same Romanian village bursting with life and larger than life characters - from a wise cracking midget to a bumbling Mayor. The story centers around the impending nuptials of Iancu and Mara, and just as the effervescent townspeople are about to partake in the joyous wedding banquet, a menacing Soviet soldier informs them that Stalin is dead, and they must refrain from such activities.
What ensues is a preposterous yet hilariously muted wedding celebration. They have everything you'd expect at a silent wedding - a band pretending to play music, precocious children with gags in their mouths, mimed wedding speeches, and guests eating with their hands as utensils make too much noise. And I'm not one who generally enjoys a fart gag, but this movie has one of the funniest and longest ones in recent memory.
Silent Wedding is a visual treat, contrasting brilliantly from stark, modern day dreariness to the vibrant radiance of rural Romania. The actors do a brilliant job in bringing genuine warmth to each character, as well as having an uncanny comedic rapport with each other that feels amazingly natural - this truly is a community you want to be a part of. On a deeper level, it is also a heartbreaking story about resistance during the deep, dark days of communism, and this fairytale town and the people who stand up and fight, even if no one can hear them.
Silent Wedding next screens 7 August, 4:45pm, Greater Union, Russell Street
Next up was The Cove, a compellingly powerful and moving documentary from filmmaker and conservationist Louie Psihoyos. The film centers on a small cove in Taiji, Japan where, unbeknown to the rest of the world (including most Japanese), the slaughter of approximately 23,000 dolphins takes place every year. Remember in 2007 when Heroes star Hayden Panettiere and Aussie Isabel Lucas were arrested on surfboards for peacefully protesting animal rights? It was in the metaphorical bloody waters (not always metaphorical, actually) of Taiji.
At the heart of the story is Richard O'Barry, a confrontational dolphin crusader who was once the primary animal trainer for the TV show Flipper. His sour experience on the series left him remorseful to say the least, and his subsequent years have been spent fighting the dolphin cause. This is what led him to the small town of Taiji, which has been a whaling epicenter for centuries, and is also a hub of dolphin activity. The fishermen capture and sell dolphins to theme parks all over the world for up to US $150,000 a pop, while the rest are lured to this cove using sonar and are systematically and inhumanely slaughtered for food.
This truly is a remarkable documentary, which is part awareness campaign and part action-adventure. Psihoyos is the Conservationalist equivalent of Danny Ocean (pardon the pun), as he goes about assembling a covert group of activists and deep sea divers to infiltrate this hidden cove, which is heavily guarded by security and infuriated local fishermen. Being tailed by the local police everywhere they go, the group's mission is to somehow get footage of the horrific events that go on every morning at this cove and bring it to the attention of the world.
Psihoyos does a superb job at balancing every aspect of story - from Barry's regretful past training of the Flipper dolphins, to the inner workings of the International Whale Commission, and the actual Ocean's 11's style mission which is a real thrill ride. And the pay-off is possibly the most harrowing 3-4 minutes of footage you'll ever see in a documentary, the type of haunting images that will stay with you for a long while after the film ends. While at times being a difficult film to watch, The Cove might very well be the best documentary of 2009.
The Cove next screens August 4, 4:45pm, Greater Union, Russell Street