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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
(Nationwide)
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.
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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.
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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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In Good Company
Australian Directors Guild Conference, September 25 – 28, 2008.
In Good Company was an excellent and illuminating conference, though perhaps less intimate and more nepotistic than the same festival held in Melbourne in 2006. A variety of sessions included sidebar networking and speed dating (although perhaps they should do speed divorcing next time). Other controversial moments included the keynote session with Rowan Woods speaking on Winged Creatures, in which he apparently revealed ‘too much'. The day after the conference, all us journos got a call saying that Rowan was not aware the press would be attending and though I, unfortunately, did not attend this session, I spoke to others who had and there was indeed a lot revealed about the behind the scenes dramas on Winged Creatures (this gossip you will, alas, have to read elsewhere).
My personal favourite session was "Rehearsal - Dramaturgy" chaired by AFTRS teacher Karen Pearlman, with speakers Nicos Lathouris and Lindy Davies representing the dramaturgs. In a nutshell, Lindy Davies is an amazing woman. She taught me at the Victorian College of the Arts in the late eighties and her classes even then were quite profound. She then went on to be Head of Acting at the school from 1995 to 2007. During the address, Davies recounted a story where "someone called Julie" kept leaving messages on her answer phone and when she finally got back to her, it turned out to be a very humble Julie Christie: "She had great fear and was terrified," Davies said. Lindy has since gone on to work as a performer's consultant and dramaturg with high profile actors like Julie Christie and Cate Blanchett. She also worked with directors and writers as a dramaturg, instructing directors "to protect the actor because they are raw and open," and allowing the actor "to play the moment, a mercurial luminous quality happening in performance." Davies also remarked that an actor alters their state to play a part and is immersed in the ‘subjective' so a director needs to be conscious of this when communicating their more ‘objective' needs, so as not to break the actor's magical spell. It's all about communicating in an actor's language, says Davies. It is different for each actor and you know when you haven't got the language right when the actor's eyes "glaze over."
Another festival highlight was: "Putting it out there - the Director and the Distributor." This session included distributor Gil Scrine and producer Carolyn Johnson speaking about Son of a Lion and Paul Wiegard speaking about Not Quite Hollywood. The session was chaired by savvy and smart journalist, Sandy George, who put to shame some of the other less quick witted chairs. Carolyn Johnson, when speaking about the pressures to make a film for a cheaper and cheaper price, noted that "even a low budget shoot needs to be high budget in post" and that "to make a film cheaper and cheaper is like shooting yourself in the foot." She also remarked that there is "nothing wrong with the director's vision but let's not put it on a pedestal."
Included in this session was a video link up from Los Angeles with director Phil Noyce, who gave sage advice to ingénue directors: "Don't tell them (cast and crew) what you want, because you only get your own thoughts back, but expose them to the ethos of the film." He spoke of the visceral power of the soundtrack in stating that, "through music you can change how an audience perceives a film...Sound goes directly from the ear to the central nervous system. It goes straight to the guts." Noyce also joked that it's important to have a really good temp track as half a million people in Russia and China will be viewing pirated copies derived from test screenings."
Other highlights included the conference dinner held at the salubrious Reception Centre of the University of New South Wales. There were many prizes awarded on the night, (detailed on the website at http://www.adg.org.au/awards) however, one of the most memorable awards given was the Award For Excellence, awarded to Mark Turnball for his work as First Assistant Director. Gillian Armstrong gave an inspired speech about Turnball when handing out the award: "It's his obsessive attention to detail. He thinks on his feet without panic...always calm, no tantrums or sharp words, maybe satiric words...maybe a glass of red but not red in the face." Armstrong then went on to say how Mark would excel at "scheduling around the drinking problem or the marriage break up," and most importantly, he would remind this trailblazing chick and role-model director "to put on lipstick" if the press were on set that day.
The other notable award was the Cecil Holmes Award to veteran documentary filmmaker, Tom Zubrycki, maker of The Diplomat (2000), Molly and Mobarek (2003) and most recently Temple of Dreams (2008) about the struggle of a group of young Muslim Australians in Sydney's west. In accepting his award he spoke about the unswerving support of his partner, Julia Overton and he quoted from George Orwell: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."
For more info on the Australian Director's Guild, head to http://www.adg.org.au