By Anthony Frajman
How does an Aussie girl react to the experience of walking the red carpet at one of the most prestigious dates on the world cinema calendar, the Venice Film Festival? “I think the best word I can use for it after much consideration was extraordinary,” says Cheel from Sydney where the film is scheduled to play at the Sydney Film Festival.
“It was fun and surreal.”
The remarkable Strange Colours, one of Cheel’s first, made by first time Melbourne director Alena Lodkina, has had a whirlwind journey, selected to be part of Venice Film Festival’s Biennale College Cinema Program (a development program for features), through to its return back to Australian shores.
With much of her experience on the stage, Strange Colours provided a unique challenge for the actress. “I never really travelled with a film to a film festival before. So my whole experience or understanding of festivals was, you know, press photos and things like a celebrity red carpet, and a photo wall behind them, and it all looks very busy and exciting.
“I really I didn’t know what to expect, and kind of imagined more sustained glitter. Like it would all just be dazzling and exciting the whole time. But actually, you just have moments. The night of the film itself, my mum came with me, that was really dazzling and exciting and overwhelming.
“I think my Venice Film Festival Experience is very different to that of George Clooney. He would have been like dancing in glitter from the moment he wakes up. For me, it was just kinda walking around the festival, and seeing films with my mum.”
Filming around the backwoods of regional NSW, Cheel completely inhabits her Strange Colours character Milena. Part of this came from an intimate working relationship with the director.
“I worked with Alena really closely. By the time I auditioned, there was a really strong script and intent and ideas. When we were talking, she had a clear idea of the film she wanted to make. Three weeks to four weeks of pre-production in Melbourne with Alena, before we travelled out to Lightning Ridge, staying with her and producer Kate Laurie’s house.
“We had a lot of talking about the character, about where she’s come from, where she’s going, a lot of rehearsals, just long-form improvisation with Daniel P Jones who plays my father, and with Justin Courtin who plays Frank. And Alena would let us enter the scenes, and get a broad sense of what we’re talking about, or where we are. We’d play around, and sometimes she would record them, and then she came back, and she’d write things in, or adjust things, or sometimes it was just for us to build those relationships. On set she was very collaborative, and very generous, and always approached me about what I thought, what my ideas were, or if something didn’t feel right.”
Apart from the three actors mentioned, one hurdle in making the film was working with untrained performers.
“We had to be very flexible and willing to just kind of move in whatever direction they wanted to work in, because they weren’t trained, they weren’t married to the script or their performances. A lot of them had no set etiquette because, why would they, they were just doing it for a laugh. It meant a lot of impromptu, situational adjustment.
“The first time actors were delightful, but it’s difficult because it’s such a finely tuned machine. You have this much time allocated to do this thing. And then you have the unknowables. And with non-actors, they aren’t necessarily just ready to go when you say action. They’re not familiar with the importance of time, and the rigidity of that time, so they get bored or distracted or hungry or they want a cigarette.”
One of the main obstacles that Cheel and the crew faced were the weather conditions.
“I mean the flies, every time I opened my mouth; I think I had to do so much swatting in that film. And then it starts to become like a thing, a performative thing, like ‘I just swatted one, but there’s one in my eye, do I swat it again?’ So you become self-conscious about flies….”
Although the shooting location was trying, the conditions bolstered the ambiance, and Cheel’s perspective.
“To look at those beautiful spaces in the middle of nowhere, it was really humbling. To look around the space and just see stretches of nothingness. It was a really grounding experience. I think when you’re coming from Sydney or Melbourne, as we all were, there’s a little period of adjustment, to kind of slow down, people were busy, but it’s a different kind of busy. Like being less stimulated, I suppose, or being simplified and streamlined. You’re in the town of Lightning Ridge, and there’s one supermarket, and one chemist, and one hardware store. Just relinquishing, and letting go, the pace of city life.”
What will it be like to watch the film on home ground? “I don’t know,” the actress paused for a second. “Because this Sydney premiere will be the first time that I’ve watched it amongst Australians. I’m really terrified, but I’m also excited. It’s played internationally, and it’s been doing a bit of touring. It played at the Gold Coast Film Festival, but I didn’t go with it. So I don’t really know, what the reception in Australia is yet. I guess I’ll find out on Friday.”
Strange Colours is in cinemas November 23, 2018
