Carnivalesque

I so badly want to see this:



And I so very badly want to see this:



There is something carnivalesque in the air.

Red Carpet #2

Okay. So, we had our launch. I loved it. I hated it, too, for passing so quickly and for being so overwhelming that I can't remember much of it except for the initial desire to die when the screening began, the desire to drink my weight in free beer to silence my nerves, and, later, the desire to curl up in the corner with every one's kind words and scratch them into a pile like some creepy, aging rodent, and, finally, the desire to make the night last for ever - which, to be honest, we gave a pretty red hot go at doing.

There are probably only a handful of times in your life where you can gather all the people you love, dig, and want to hang tuff with, into one place and ask them to bear with you while you indulge in the rare opportunity of humiliating and exposing yourself. It's a rare and strange privilege. And this rare, strange opportunity went off without a hitch. Lots of love, emotion, generosity, party pies, free wine, beautiful folks, sleazy dancing, achingly lovely songs, heartfelt speeches, good yarns, great friends, grinning family. We got to share it all with the beautiful folks of our extended Black Arm Band family with who we shared the journey and the film along the way. One of the great night's of this strange little life.

Below is a random arrangement of shots taken by the pretty damned great photographer Leah Robertson:

Red Carpet #1

It's the eve of the premiere of 'murundak - songs of freedom', the feature doc we've been working on for so long, and it feels surreal. The artists and subjects of the film are flying in from around the country, crew members are coming to town, we're running around frantically picking up posters, organising after screening bevvies and food, we're sitting through meetings with all the pretty damned extraordinary sponsors and donors, and checking off times for tech checks, sound checks, guest list checks and waistline checks for dusty red carpet outfits. It's mayhem. But a mayhem you know will have a release.

I walked past the Forum Theatre today, where we are hosting the premiere, and, looking up, realised they had already laid out the banner text. After collecting a new pair of pants, I couldn't help but think of all the great screenings I've been to in that beautiful old cinema. It feels kinda outrageous and kinda amazing to be able to show your own little flick in that same hallowed theatre.


When you squeeze every last dollar from a budget and every last bit of energy from your reserves it's easy to forget that you need to rev up and do it all again in getting the film out to folks. We know that any documentary film and any independent film is fighting an uphill battle in this period in time, but we believe in the film and the people who've invested in it, and what other option do we have but to slog it out and organise a big, sprawling, messy kick off, a bunch of subsequent public events, a theatrical run and lots and lots of spruiking to get people to come and catch the film in some way at some venue at some time.

We're pretty proud that a whole bunch of people seem to be as excited as we are, and that a whole lot of folks have thrown their weight, their support and their time into helping us launch it. We're also pretty proud of our artwork designed by the good men of small studio. You dig it?

Sophistication

"You have to fight sophistication. Sophistication comes to anybody that has been doing their job for a while. You have to fight knowing, because once you know something, it's hard to be open and creative; it's a form of passivity - something to guard against."

John Cassavetes

A Single Word

"Sometimes, a single word can kill"

Pedro Costa

Homestead Festival

A damned fine weekend in.

It's the hiatus between completing the planning for the launch of murundak and the launch itself. Key artwork locked off. Premiere planned. Sponsors locked in. Theatrical distribution on the move. Artists booked on flights and in hotels. Thank you speeches written.

So, by way of reward and retreat, a weekend hidden away watching flicks, finishing books ('Freedom') and starting new ones ('Tokyo Vice'), eating the unbelievable sandwiches at The Bell Jar, making dumplings, and writing notes for projects to come.

Friday PM
'The Father of My Children' (dir: Mia Hansen-Løve)


Saturday AM
'Anvil: The Story of Anvil' (dir: Sacha Gervasi)
'Karate Kid' (dir: Harald Zwart)



Saturday PM
'Goodbye, Dragon Inn' (dir: Tsai Ming Liang)
'Genova' (dir: Michael Winterbottom)



Sunday AM-PM
'Ossos' (dir: Pedro Costa)
'The Kiss' (short, dir: Ashlee Paige)
'The Limits of Control' (dir: Jim Jarmusch)
...and a sublime rough cut of a new as yet untitled documentary by fellow traveller Tim Mummery.




Bliss.