By FilmInk Staff
Dogmilk Films is a collective dedicated to the production and exhibition of alternative and ambitious screen and sound works. Founded in 2017, the collective currently consists of thirteen members with eclectic stylistic approaches and skill sets in film, video and sound art. Dogmilk’s members are currently based between Naarm/Birrarung Ga (Melbourne, Australia), Makassar (Sulawesi, Indonesia) and Paris (France).
Over the years, Dogmilk has run a plethora of screenings throughout the Naarm/Birrarung Ga region, dedicated to highlighting and fostering the work of local and international, early career filmmakers and programmers. In addition, Dogmilk has showcased many international features that exist on the fringes and are largely unseen in Australia. These include the Australian premieres of The Works and Days by C.W. Winters and Anders Edström, and Purple Sea by Amel Alzakout. During COVID lockdowns, Dogmilk curated a platform for fortnightly online programs of short films from diverse filmmakers, in both style and origin.
Right now, Dogmilk Films is curating a very special showcase of short films to screen at the upcoming St. Kilda Film Festival. Dogmilk’s Sam Hewison tells us all about it…
What is Dogmilk Films? Who runs it? How is it run? And what are your objectives?
“Dogmilk is an independent film collective based on the unceded lands of the Kulin Nation (Melbourne), operating since 2017. Made up of filmmakers and film lovers, with people working across every department as well as in expanded forms of cinema, video art and sound art, we’re dedicated to the promotion and production of alternative and ambitious moving image work. We make movies, video and sound art, and we also organise regular screenings, to share the love and craft of moviemaking and watching! Our strength is in our diversity of taste and interests. Membership and involvement in Dogmilk activities is pretty fluid, depending on who’s in town, who’s interested in participating, or who’s available to help out. Members are free to organise whatever they want to under the Dogmilk banner and gain support in producing whatever that is, be it a screening, a show, or a shoot. At the moment, there are about thirteen members, but there’s always scope to expand and reconsider our aims and the way we function as an evolving group. We hope to actively participate in and contribute to a healthy and accessible alternative film ecosystem both in this city and further afield. We endeavour to spotlight local and international cinema that’s resourceful and challenging but also engaging and inclusive, and that doesn’t always benefit from institutional support or commercial distribution.”
There seems to be a resurgence in artist collectives. Why do you think that is?
“Historically speaking, funding opportunities for Australian artists and filmmakers are at an incredibly low ebb; they seem more risk averse and commercially minded than ever. Working together to collaborate and produce things outside of institutional frameworks kind of becomes a no-brainer. This applies to distribution and exhibition of films and art, not just production. So, as ever in times of scarcity (manufactured or otherwise), being able to rely on your community becomes absolutely crucial for survival. Power in numbers, start a collective.”
And why film?
“Regarding film specifically, streaming and the internet has meant that we are no longer required to physically engage with the world and others in order to consume films. Film viewing has become more and more domesticated over several decades, reaching its peak in the present moment with streaming. What we’re seeing in recent times is that no matter what, people still have an urge to gather together and enjoy experiences with others, outside in the community. Obviously digital technology has created its own communities online, but there’s a difference between social encounters that happen online and those that happen face-to-face. Largely it seems that most of us are consuming films and entertainment through the large streaming platforms. We’re all at the mercy of what these big companies dish up, which has proved to be very limited, and seems to have little or no engagement with what’s happening locally on the ground. While online media has opened up access to a great many things, the relationship people have with ‘independent filmmaking’ often necessitates piracy, further widening the gap. The scarcity of arts and film support also creates an air of inaccessibility and exclusiveness around filmmaking. Working in a collective, with people you know, makes the process feel more human-sized, and filmmaking becomes more attainable and accessible. Hopefully certain funding bodies and institutions catch up though!”
Can you discuss your connection to Indonesia?
“We’re connected to Indonesia through the development of an expanded documentary project a few members have been working on since 2017. We’ve travelled to Indonesia, specifically to South Sulawesi, consistently since then, and have connected with like-minded young filmmakers. We recognised in some of the friends we made there a creative enthusiasm for film, with little institutional structure around them to accommodate or foster this enthusiasm. We included them in our projects, we’ve shared films, and we’ve co-programmed screenings and so on. This led to two Indonesian friends joining Dogmilk, one visiting Naarm in early 2020 to collaborate on a project and the other receiving a scholarship to study here long term! During lockdowns, we ran online screening programs named VODmilk, which we would always subtitle in both Indonesian and English. In that period, a few of us were also supported by Asialink to run an online creative residency program with the Dogmilk members in Indonesia and to produce a multi-channel installation. Indonesia has an incredibly exciting and vibrant DIY film culture and community, little known to audiences in Australia, which is a pity! There’s lots more to explore in our relationship to Indonesia. There’s plenty in the pipeline and we’re excited to continue forming strong bonds with the local film scenes.”
Tell us about your curatorial leanings, and how the programs arise? Is it through your own pursuit of the projects, or do they come to you?
“Our programming criteria are pretty porous and loose, generally if we’re excited by a program, we’ll do what we can to screen it one way or another. Our main screening series, Dogmilk Degustations, is based on the idea of inviting guest programmers, trying to spread curatorial duties to filmmakers and film lovers, giving them the chance to screen films (generally shorts) that have inspired or influenced their own work and taste. We try to invite programmers from diverse film communities across Naarm, Australia and the world. Sometimes we find them, sometimes they come to us! We’re interested in DIY, we’re interested in political, we’re interested in fun, we’re interested in experimental, we’re interested in new ways to tell a story (or not), we’re interested in seeing things we’ve never seen before.”
Do you have any upcoming screenings, events, or announcements?
“We’re about to round out this year’s Degustations screening season (Dogmilk Degustations) with a night of expanded cinema performances at Miscellania on the 29th of May, featuring the latest boundary pushing work by local artists Sofie McClure, Jordan James Kaye, Hextape, Anika Deruyter, Levi Lauw and Eloise Wright. We’ve also been invited to guest-curate a couple of programs at this year’s St Kilda Film Festival. We’ll be putting on an encore performance of Sofie McClure’s expanded performance, alongside the inimitable Garden Reflexxx crew on Sunday June 9th. Then we’ll be screening a collection of Dogmilk produced short films, showcasing the latest work from Dogmilk members, on Sunday June 16th. Both promise to be a hell of a good time. Follow us on Instagram to stay in the loop (we’ve got heaps more exciting stuff on the horizon) and see what we’ve been up to in the past (we’ve done heaps of exciting stuff already).”
For more on Dogmilk, check out their Instagram. For all ticketing and venue information on Dogmilk and The St. Kilda Film Festival click here.
