The Opening Monologue to 'Manhattan' (1979)

I am late for many things. For this I am well known for. Many things include great classics, like Woody Allen's Manhattan which I have finally (emphasise - finally) seen tonight.



There is nothing dishonest about Allen's films from what I have known - I have only seen this, with his newer films Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and possibly something else I fail to remember at this stage. He is so honest and self-deprecating that he is so enjoyable to watch, especially in a film like Manhattan. I have always seen him as the kind of director and writer who will make anything he chooses, and will not care to hear about what you think of it because in fact he already knows. For this, I really admire him for that.

So, next on my to-do list, or 'homework' - forget about the cultural industries and practices readings, see Annie Hall (1977).

By writing so here, I will feel much more obliged and willing to do it. I should try it out some time on readings - it might work.

Christian Marclay's 'Telephones', 1995

A multitude of characters, one single phone call, many different emotions. This great little clip is a 7-minute long 'compilation' of snippets from scenes that involve a phone call - from dialing a number to hanging up - from films that span the history of Hollywood as far as interests go.

I love the moment when every conversation becomes silent, as each character listens back into the earpiece and react in their own way. We might not necessarily know the contexts of these films to completely understand what is being said and felt, but I feel therein lies the magic of this piece.

Adolescence in 'Beginners'

I recently revisited Mike Mills' second feature film Beginners (2010) after giving in to my quite embarrassing reignited love of Ewan McGregor (I saw Perfect Sense (2011) over the weekend, more on that next time) and thinking about Mike Mills' interesting graphic design and slightly quirky, dislocated style. (That is not to say his films are not cohesive in any way!)

A film seen twice is an entirely different film all together. I love Mike's playful and awkward take on the innocence within every one of us, older, old or young. We lose and we have lost - still it makes us no less of the adolescent we were in our past, and we are still beginners this way. We love and find happiness, yet it makes us fearful. We fear our future, yet it makes us more of who we are.

It's interesting to see that even in Mike's first feature film Thumbsucker (2007) he explores this idea of adolescence and a sense of 'coming of age'. I love this idea of everyone no matter how old is still 'coming of age' - whether they are falling in love again at 38, or dying of cancer. Beginners has a sort of honesty that says 'Y'know what? It's okay to grow up and still be scared'. These ideas are something I'd really like to explore somewhere. I'm always reminded to look back on my childhood for inspiration, and seeing this again has brought me back to this idea.

'What is the film that made you want to continue exploring Korean cinema?' (Part 2)

To continue on from my entry on how I discovered Korean cinema, I've decided to talk about another film that really changed the way I looked at Korean film and the different ideas in cinema. My previous entry highlighted my first Kim Ki-duk experience, and it was the beginning of what I am today.

I raved about 3-Iron (2004) and how much I loved it to Kieran not long after that. I had already, by then, heard about a few big names in the Korean film world. Bong Joon-ho, Kim something or rather, another Kim this and that, and then - Park Chan-wook. I heard much about Old Boy (2003) throughout film school, here and there in pockets throughout the interwebs and still did not rush to see it. It was kind of like the hype around Kill Bill (2003). It's awesome, It's epic, It's amazing. Or so I had heard. Kieran had a couple of Park's films in his gargantuam of a DVD collection, one of which was J.S.A.: Joing Security Area (2000), a film I had not heard about and had little interest to see at the time. The title alone was uninteresting - that and I had little concrete knowledge of the DMZ and the current situation between the North and South. I looked past all of this and decided to give it a go.

I'll be absolutely honest with you: I could not and did not get through the first 20 minutes of the film in my first viewing. It was all talk, no substance to me. I wasn't paying attention to the lengthy discussions between Lee Young-ae's character and Mr Tall Swiss man, who to me seemed like an excuse of a 'white' man in an Asian film. I fell asleep, and looked no further past the beginning. Kieran had told me what a great film it was, and I simply could not see it. And that was that.

Continue reading the rest of this article at the official KOFFIA blog here.

4A Presents Cinema Alley 2012: Double Vision

On the topic of Asian/Asian-Australian film distribution and the embracing of real multicultural diversity in Australia, 4A Centre For Contemporary Asian Art hold an annual film event called Cinema Alley. Held on Parker St, an alleyway in the heart of Chinatown only a short distance from the gallery's centre, Cinema Alley brings contemporary visual art from both Asian and Australian video artists into the setting of an urban landscape such as Sydney's city. The event hopes to generate and encourage discussions about Asian culture in the city.

 Cinema Alley packs a huge crowd!

This year, the event features the theme 'Double Vision'. Two screens will be spread across Parker St to show both double-channel and single-channel video formats. The two screens will 'create a layering and collision of images', and engage audiences in a new way of experiencing cinema.

 Hiwa K. 'Moon Calendar' (2007) still from video

Some of the artists featuring this year are Peter Alwast, Hiwa K, Kiran Subbaih, and Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba. The night also features two Chinese artists, Miao Xiaochun and Liang Wei. I've always thought of contemporary Chinese art as being refreshing given the context of China's rapidly changing landscape, so this is great to hear and I certainly can't wait to see what is in store at this year's event.

Amongst the list of artists is Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the highly controversial, contemporary Thai director who's latest film, the beautifully surreal Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) was rewarded the top prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2010, the Palme d'Or. His short film 'Faith' from 2006 will be screening at this year's Cinema Alley.

Apichatpong's 'Faith' (2006) stills from video

Cinema Alley is a free, one-night only event and is being held this Friday evening, February 3rd. While the event is unfortunately sold out, there is a waiting list which you can join and if upon the chance that places are withdrawn from then there is a chance to get in. 

The event coincides with City of Sydney's Chinese New Year celebrations. This will be my first time visiting the annual event, and I'm hoping it will be an enlightening one!

Cinema Alley 2012 - Double Vision

Friday 3 February

@ Parker St, HAYMARKET

8PM Screening / 7PM Bar Opens

Organised by 4A Centre For Contemporary Asian Art

website / book tickets

FEATURING

PETER ALWAST
HIWA K
NASIM NASR
LIANG WEI
MIAO XIAOCHUN
JUN NGUYEN-HATSUSHIBA
KIRAN SUBBAIAH

APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL
+ SELECTIONS FROM  THE 4A ANIMATION PROJECT

Michel Gondry's Big ideas continue

Stumbled across this fantastic, crazy Japanese commercial for a clothing store directed by the one and only Michel Gondry. It features his signature giant body parts which featured in many of his music videos including Foo Fighters' Everlong and in his film The Science of Sleep (see below).

It's slightly maniacal, but also great fun and true to Gondry's hugely imaginative style. Whatever medium he chooses to work with, from feature films to short minute-long commercials, he's still able to bring to us a piece of his insanely colourful world with amazing style. See below for this wacky new Japanese commercial.

Notes on the Malaysian film industry: diversity and multiculturalism

I've been back in Malaysia for just about a week now, and it's been a quiet one. As you may have already heard, this week people have been celebrating Chinese New Year across the globe, and like most Asian countries, everything in Malaysia is 'on hold' for the entire week. The public holiday only applies for two days, but it is pretty usual to have businesses close for the rest of the week, and employees of all races take the 'unspoken' kind of annual leave.

I'm always curious to find out more about the film industry in Malaysia - how it works, what sort of funding filmmakers can apply for, what sort of films succeed at the box office, etc. While I haven't quite got all the answers to those questions yet, I've noticed a large number of cinemas that release country specific films. For example, cinemas in the city or popular malls will screen most of the Hollywood blockbusters and big international titles. What interests me is the ratio of Hollywood titles are to Asian titles (be it Malay-produced, or from Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, India or Japan).

Some of the films out in Malaysian cinemas. Top left, right: The Viral Factor (Cantonese), All's Well End's Well (Cantonese). Bottom: Nanban (Tamil)

In almost every cinema across the city (from larger mall-based ones to smaller), there is almost a 1:2 ratio of Asian titles to Hollywood ones. In some cinemas a little further outside the city, the ratio of Asian titles to Hollywood ones was almost 2:1.

The first thing this shows is how multicultural this country really is. Never-ending racial conflict aside, if there are cinemas that purely represent or favour the Asian communities over international/American titles, it really proves to you how the Malaysian film industry promotes diversity.

 A still from Sepet (2004), a Malaysian film written and directed by one of my favourite directors the late Yasmin Ahmad. The film is a modern-day, Malaysian Romeo and Juliet story with a twist on racial divisions in Malaysian society. This is one of my all-time favourites.

Understandably, Malaysia is a country where language can be a barrier for many different reasons, some geographical which may explain the different types of cinemas in Kuala Lumpur and outside of the city. A ratio like 2:1 in favour of Asian titles though, well, I think that speaks for itself.

If Australia is a multicultural country as it so often calls and bathes itself in, then why isn't there a similar level of treatment to diversity? In a country so full of Asian communities, why aren't there distributors helping to bring Asian-produced or Asian-relevant content to Australia to the same degree of crappy Australian-produced films? Why are Australian distributors turning a blind eye on Asian films, or Asian-Australian films when these are people who make up a good majority of communities across the country?

I do think that Australia needs to see more Asian films, or at least help to bring these films to communities with larger Asian/Asian-Australian population. I suppose that having said this, it is the reason why international film festivals such as Sydney Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival and even independent ones such as the Korean Film Festival in Australia are so fantastic in bringing films we would not have ever heard of, or will ever hear of again once the festival passes.

You would think that in a country that is so proud of it's multicultural approach and perspectives, people would at least practice what they preach.

Picasso goes to the movies

I'm continuously looking for opportunities to watch films that we may not necessarily have great access to in DVD or theatrical release, especially older classics from our yesteryear. The Art Gallery of New South Wales is great for this, and I felt I needed to share with you their fantastic free film events.

The gallery regularly program films around their current exhibitions. They have recently opened a huge exhibition of Picasso's works called Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris, and with this is a selection of films from the 20th Century that span alongside Picasso's ground-breaking, revolutionary career. Here are some of my picks:


Bicycle Thieves (1949)

This is one of those seminal films we are taught about in film studies. Directed by Vittoria de Sica, this film is at the front of Italian Neorealism, a film movement characterised by stories about the poor and working classes. The story follows a billposter whose bicycle is stolen as he is on the job. How he relies on this bicycle is close to heartbreaking, as without it he cannot work and support his family. I never had the chance to see at uni (as I was probably sleeping through that 10am film lecture), and I think now is my chance. 

Screening: Wednesday 30 November (2pm, 7:15pm), Sunday 4 December (2pm)

Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1952)

I once saw a documentary on Jacques Tati, and it was ever since then that I was adamant to see what he was all about. Madman Entertainment released many of Tati's classics including Mon Oncle, but at hefty prices. It's not unusual as many foreign films distributed here are simply hard to get, hard to sell and therefore come at a 'hard' price. Tati is one of the great masters of humour, through the use of tightly choreographed comedy skits and sound effects, I have a feeling Mr. Hulot's Holiday will bring me back to the roots of comedy in film.

Screening: Wednesday 14 December (2pm, 7:15pm), Sunday 18 December (2pm)

Breathless (1959)

Ah, finally something I've seen, and love. This is Jean Luc-Godard's first feature film, and has become one of the most influential films in history. You could argue that this was the film that set off the French New Wave, a new breed of filmmaking. It was 'the anti', the movement that completely disregarded the structure of the film narrative, and was the true rebel without a cause in low budget, no rules filmmaking. And it's for this very reason that Breathless is a favourite and must-see for anyone.

Screening: Wednesday 15 February (2pm, 7:15pm), Sunday 19 February (2pm)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

How I got away with not having seen this film, I don't know and am incredibly embarrassed about it. This is the film that defines all film experiences, I've been told. 2001: A Space Odyssey is Stanley Kubrick's most famous and influential film and again challenges the science-fiction genre. This is said to be a highly transcendental experience for any one, film enthusiast or not. This - is a must.

Screening: Wednesday 21 March (2pm, 7:15pm), Sunday 25 March (2pm)

See the rest of the Picasso goes to the movies film program as part of the exhibition here. Don't forget that these are free screenings!

The Lomokino

Hipster cousin Ji brought my attention today to this great new camera from LOMO called 'Lomokino'. It basically uses ordinary 35mm film (slide, negative, black/white, infrared, you name it) and shoots short movies that look a little something like this:

I love the fact that it utilises analogue photography and turns it into a form of filmmaking. It's cost-effective and simple enough for the average photographer by the looks of it. Looks like a fantastic tool to experiment with. I'm definitely adding this to my wishlist for the upcoming gift-swapping season!

Have a look at more examples of films shot on the Lomokino, or have a read about the camera itself.

'God's Eye View'

Stumbled across this amazing supercut of shots from films that use what is commonly known as the God's Eye View angle. I highly recommend you take 4 minutes of your day to watch this.

Big Awards, little me

Our good old friend November has returned, which means we welcome warmer days, sleepless nights and mosquito battles for the next few months. It's painful, and I hate summer. The best part of November, apart from finishing my second-first year at university, is the Asia Pacific Screen Awards Ceremony held in the Gold Coast at the end of the month. Kieran received an invitation to attend, and like last year, we're heading up the coast for yet another 'fancy' night. In other words, it's just an excuse for me to dress up and be in the same room with some big names in the Asia Pacific Screen industry. 

Last year we shared canapes with the producer of Paju and the producer of Jang Hun's new film Frontline (there is an embarrassing photo of me showing just this on the APSA homepage). We're hoping it'll be just as exciting as that this time around, and maybe even better like finally finding the courage to talk to Lee Chang-dong's producer of Secret Sunshine and brother. True story.

Stillness

So I may have taken on more than I can handle. With two 10 hour days at work each week, tutorials and lectures on every other day, and now soccer games every Sunday and training one evening a week about 50 minutes away, life hasn't been more challenging.

Work gets tougher week by week as my manager tightens the leash on me. The further I get through this year, the less sleep I get and the more mistakes I make at work. I have been 'spoken to' at least once every week now that I have started part-time. It's hard every Tuesday and Wednesday morning to want to go to work. Nevertheless, one must work to play, and work to play I must.

The classes this semester at uni have been interesting. I've been finding it quite difficult to get back into the mode of deeper analysis, so much that I can never seem to contribute to class discussions. I'm really enjoying my film studies course at the moment as it's the only class I can sit and contribute to greater detail in. Having noted down all the dates for when assignments are due, I can see that once the fifth week of university begins, which is 3 weeks from now, I will have a far tougher time at juggling work, uni and life.

I am quite upset that I feel like I have been pulled away from my love in film. I haven't had the time to see as many films as I'd like to, and it's the same deal with wanting to make films. When I am free, I am either sleeping or staying fit. When I'm not, I am stuck in this ditch.

Now, I apologise if this post sounds as if it has been written with half a heart. I think my mind is where bed is right now, and I should follow. I hope the next blog post will be more positive than this.

Happy things for you all.

Korean Cinema: Crossing Borders, Crossing Genres

I decided to take part in the Korean Blogathon, in which a week is dedicated to blogs about Korean film, hosted by cineAWESOME. I wrote about the crossing of genres in contemporary Korean cinema.

You'll also find the article here on the Korean Film Festival in Australia's official blog.

Leave a comment!

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It’s late on a Friday night, and I’m feeling up for a movie. I visit my try-hard of a DVD collection for something to keep me company. A couple of giggles to start the weekend? How about a fast-paced action flick to keep me on my toes? Perhaps a deep drama for me to sink my head in for days to come?

It's late on a Friday night, and I can't decide. There are so many feelings I want to fulfill in the next two hours that I begin analysing my emotive preferences. I finally fall on something borrowed - Park Chan-wook's Joint Security Area. Admittedly, the last time I sat down to watch this, I couldn't get past the first 15 minutes of what I felt was a tense, political drama. This time, I manage to get through to the flashbacks present in the film, and I decide within 30 minutes that I love this film.


After searching hard for something to entertain me, I had finally found my answer. What seemed like a dense, political drama eventually turned out to be a heart-warming story of an unlikely friendship between the border guards of the Northern and Southern halves of Korea. The film begins in the present where neutral government officials have come together to investigate a murder that occurred in the demilitarised zone. We soon join Sergeant Lee in a flashback of where it all began - a secret and playful friendship between him and a soldier from the North Korean border guard force, through letters, which later turns into fun, friendly meetings in the North Korean guard post. While the majority of the film feels like a drama especially as it covers the themes of war, political tension and the human condition, the film eventually crosses into the genre of comedy through sarcasm, and playful action as presented through the scenes where the guards are together in harmony.


Here is what is interesting about this. At one end of the spectrum where the 'darker' genres of action, thriller, drama and even horror are present, one would expect little to no presence of the 'lighter' genres such as comedy, which stays on the opposite end of this line.

When you look at Hollywood films, conventionally speaking, a film of the horror genre will stick as closely to the word 'horror' as to not confuse your judgment of the film's genre. While there might be a character in this horror film that makes an ironic statement to reassure us that he will die within the next second (and so it happens), the film remains a horror film and will not cross over to the 'lighter' side. It is the same with anything that is primarily of a genre from the 'lighter' side - a comedy about a group of friends who go to Las Vegas on a 'bachelor's party' cum 'the last night out' never shows any signs of an attempt at crossing the deeper genres of drama, for example. If there were an attempt, it would be the most clichéd and shortest dramatic arc simply to give the film 'an edge'.


Korean Cinema on the other hand, crosses these genres freely and almost excessively. I find this an interesting observation - by crossing genres, a viewer can leave a film feeling confused as to what they have just seen. Upon viewing Kim Yong-hwa's 200 Pound Beauty for the first time, I didn't quite know how to feel about what I had seen. While I had laughed throughout most of the film, I would often stop and wonder, what am I laughing at?


The story is about an unattractively large girl who undergoes intensive plastic surgery so that she can confidently be who she is, and to achieve her dreams of being a pop-singer. The notion of using plastic surgery in order to change one's complete image is often looked down on, and is never encouraged, yet 200 Pound Beauty seems to support this idea to some extent. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film's comedy and hilarious, colourful characters so much that I had forgotten about the slight encouragement of plastic surgery.

Crossing genres can make a film 200x more engaging and entertaining than a single genre film. A cross-genre film opens up to a much wider audience too - for example, Bong Joon-ho's The Host is clearly a monster film with the thriller and action elements it carries, yet the story centralises on the charming, comedic brilliance of Song Kang-ho's character and his slightly kooky, alternative family who must save their youngest sister from the slimy, slithery clutches of the sewer monster.

While some might not like monster films (let's use Cloverfield as an English title) for example due to the content of how a monster is portrayed (or in other words, those who can't stomach the above), centralising the story around a viewer-friendly, weird family makes it easier for some to sit through such horror... Such 'horror'.


At last year's Korean Film Festival in Australia, I got a chance to see Rough Cut, an action film about a gangster who wants to be an actor, and an actor with the ideals of a gangster. Written by Kim Ki-duk and directed by Hun Jang, this is primarily a film of the action genre, with many fast-paced action scenes during a film shoot within the film, and otherwise. The film predominantly covers the themes of gang culture, ultra-violence and corruption in Korean society, which I find quite common in contemporary Korean cinema. However, although the film focuses on these serious themes, to the average viewer there is a surprising amount of comedy present all throughout. The best thing about the use of comedy throughout the film is that it does not distract you from the essence of the story, and that the film really is a violent, action film with a 15 minute bloody, fist battle in mud to an extreme, suggestive rape scene.

I never liked the excessive crossing of genres when I was first introduced to Korean films, but I feel that it has finally grown on me. No longer do I have to worry over two vastly different films in genre. No longer will I have to waste (close to) hours on deciding on whether I feel like a depressing, art-house drama film or a romantic, black comedy - or whether I feel like a laugh or a cry over a movie. Contemporary Korean cinema has proven to us that the crossing of genres is possible, and plausible. And that including comedy in a violent, gangster film is not a clichéd or a lame attempt at 'great entertainment'. It is an experience worthwhile, and although it may seem strange with such an oppositional mixture of genres at times, it ultimately fulfills the requirements of an entertaining film.

Raelene Loong is a Marketing Assistant for KOFFIA, as well as a Video-On-Demand scheduler and independent filmmaker. Her personal film blog is Cutting Squares. Follow her on Twitter @suupatrout.

Blue Valentine: the room of desire, desperation and no return

I found this neat photograph of Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance and lead Michelle Williams on set during the production. It was this room where Dean, played by Ryan Gosling brings his wife Cindy (Michelle Williams) to rekindle their relationship, after it is clear that it's breaking apart at the very seams.

They enter a love hotel, and Dean picks the 'Future Room', a neon-lit, tight space with no windows, including your average tacky rotating bed and faux fur pillows. Nothing is true for the couple any more, and nothing can be reversed. Their relationship is in shambles, as they crawl and beg for freedom - of each other, and freedom of the present. The 'Future Room' does nothing, but take them deeper into the land of no return. Time travel does not exist, and if it did, everything would be right. What destroys us, and where do relationships go to perish? Where does it hurt?

Sonnet 29, Shakespeare (and a New Year greeting)

Hey, happy new year all.

I admit, I have been a terrible host and for that I apologise! I have been busily trying to catch up with life as it has made it through to 2011. Damn it, the sneaky new year went on to start without even telling me. I have been struggling at work, and to see the lightness in film and creativity on most days, so I must ask you to be patient with me till I find some resourceful information or ideas to spread.

I do, however, begin 'school' at AFTRS (I've just enrolled in the Grad Certificate in Screen Culture, picked it over Directing. Explain later) in just over a month's time, which should get me back into my right frame of mind. I'm very much looking forward to it!

In the meanwhile, I shall leave you with this beautiful video - featuring David Hyde Pierce (from Frasier) reading Shakespeare's Sonnet 29. Inspiring, devastating, a beautiful kind of disaster.

Stay happy, everyone.

A Spike Jonze/Arcade Fire collaboration, "The Suburbs"

Saw this a while ago. Been meaning to share it.

Here's what I found on the video (some details from Win Butler, Arcade Fire's lead):

“It’s not a video. It’s a short film; we’re still working on it. It’s like a science-fiction B-movie companion piece for the record. Basically, we played Spike some music from the album and the first images that came to his mind had the same feeling as this idea for a science fiction film I had when I was younger. My brother and I and Spike wrote it together, which was really fun– it was like total amateur hour. We shot it in Austin and a lot of kids are in the film, and it was great just hanging out with these 15-year-olds for a week and writing down all the funny things they said. It was cool to revert to being a 15-year-old for a little while."

Although it is set in Austin and seemingly reflects the suburban life for American youth, I think the themes are universal. The video reminds me of when I used to ride bicycles around my suburb with neighbours who lived nearby and not so nearby. We would race each other to the vandalised park, play rubberband wars, chase each other up to the shops where we would buy shandy beer (it was all so exhilarating). We'd pick up a couple of cap guns and have fights in our front lawns. This video brings me back to these feelings of being alive and free - my suburb was my turf, and nothing could stop me.

Less Time, More Films

It's amazing how quickly time is lost when you work full-time. As you can imagine, I have been very occupied with work. When I'm not at work, I'm resting, dealing with the trivial matters that encompass my life, or thinking of different ways to overcome my lactose intolerance. The Japanese Film Festival in Sydney began last Monday, which I've been attending almost everyday throughout the week. I've been losing sleep, eating badly (dinner has consisted of buttered toast for the past two nights now) and basically not giving myself the tender, love and care that I seem to need.

(photo from JFF Facebook page)

I have, however, been seeing a lot more films than the past two months put together! I took advantage of the perks that came with having a boyfriend who worked for a film festival by sitting with him while he watched the screeners. I saw almost half the films on at the currently running Japanese Film Festival, including A Lone Scalpel (closing night film), Flavor of Happiness, Confessions and Solanin (by far my favourite). We managed to see Josh Fox's documentary Gasland, Michael Rowe's Leap Year (also known as Año Bisiesto), a Christmas tale gone wrong in Rare Exports, Australian genre film The Loved Ones, and a couple of others. It has been quite a busy November.

Next week, Kieran and I head to the Gold Coast for the 4th annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards. I'm really looking forward to this event - it's the first major 'black tie' film-event I have been asked to attend - well, Kieran was invited, and I got to be his lucky 'plus one'. Nevertheless, it will be great to be amongst all sorts of important folk in the Asian film industry. I can't wait.

December will bring all kinds of crazy with Christmas and New Year's around the corner already. Time to empty my wallets, repent my sins and consider my 2011. Can't say I'm not excited!

I'll end this post with one of my favourite trailers - a sweded trailer of Be Kind Rewind. It's sweded with all the charm and greatness of Michel Gondry.

Cooking Dreams

"Tonight, I'll show you how dreams are prepared. People think it's a very simple and easy process but it's a bit more complicated than that. As you can see, a very delicate combination of complex ingredients is the key. First, we put in some random thoughts. And then, we add a little bit of reminiscences of the day, mixed with some memories from the past. That's for two people. Love, friendships, relationships and all those 'ships', together with songs you heard during the day, things you saw, and also, uh... personal... Okay, I think it's one"

"Sleepskating" - New Short Film

As you know from the previous post, I took part in the Kino Kabaret challenge whereby you make a film in 32 hours (from thinking up idea to screening the next night). This is what we came up with in 8 hours. It's called "Sleepskating".

Kino Kabaret - the 32-hour filmmaking challenge

This year, I chose to take part in my first Kino Kabaret challenge. The rules are you make a film in 32 hours, to be presented at the Kino Kabaret party 32 hours later. I felt that it would be a great way to push myself back into making films again, and it will be good practise to get back behind the camera again.

What I had not remembered when I signed up and had my place in the weekend session (this weekend, 23-24 October) of Kabaret was that I had already bought entry to the annual SPAA Fringe film conference, held on 22-23 October.

I guess a challenge isn't a challenge without a few amateur scheduling mistakes, right? The other downside to this is that I won't be able to start shooting till at least 8pm tonight, which makes it all the more challenging. I've shot a short in 3 hours before, so perhaps it won't be such a bad next 32 hours.

I'll be uploading the film to Vimeo and will share it here once it has premiered at Kino tomorrow night. If you're around Paddington with nothing better to do at 6:30PM on Sunday 24th of October, come down to the Australian Centre of Photography (Oxford St) for the closing night of Kino Kabaret. $15 at the door will get you free drinks, food and some freshly made films. Hope to see you there!