So where have you been?

Yeah, I’m sure that is what you have all been asking.  I must be one of the worst bloggers on the planet.  I always think about it and tell myself that I must do it, but then life and creating get in the way and I forget.

So what have I been doing?

LOTS!

Still from video made for Falling

Firstly, I did an art collaboration called Falling with Australian sculpture Annee Miron, Finnish chorographer Favela Vera Ortiz and Finnish dancer Sanne From.   

 

Video image being projected on sculpture by Annee Miron

 I haven’t made any video art before.  I’ve made plenty of experimental films in my early filmmaking days so there were elements of getting back to my roots, but I’m not sure about this art thing.  It seems a lot harder to make a living from it and I think you need to be even more dedicated to do art here in Australia than you do filmmaking.

Still from the film version of the dance Myoclonic.

Also, I had a chance to shoot some more footage for Doing it Her Way.  

Zahra Stardust

All of Australia’s feminist pornographers got together for Porno Camp.  It was a great weekend of skill sharing and networking.  I finally got to meet and interview the political Zahra Stardust, and the very reclusive Ms Naughty. As well as shoot some observational footage of the weekend.

Ms Naughty

On the set of "New Tricks" shooting "Doing it Her Way."

I also got to meet Morgana Muse, who won first prize at the Joy awards last year.  I’m hoping to do an interview with her in the near future.  She generously let me shoot behind the scenes on her new film “New Tricks” which was great and made me miss making erotic films, but hopefully we will be collaborating on a project in the near future!

  

Finally, this Saturday 1^st June at 11am  “Making it Handmade” will be playing at the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery.  I’ll be there for chats and craft afterwards, so if you are anywhere near come and say Hello!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all.  I hope your year is filled with love, happiness and creative times. 

I have promised myself that I will write more regular blog posts...you must all be sick of hearing about how slack I am in this regard!

Until I return to teaching at Uni this year, I have a whole 2 months that I can power on with my own film work.  I also decided to do less teaching this year so that I can concentrate on filmmaking.

As stated in my last post I have been working on a new documentary entitled "Doing it Her way.", which is exploring the rise of feminist porn here in Australia and overseas too.  I actually filmed some of it while I was in Berlin in 2009.  At this stage I have been doing interviews with some of the amazing Australian women making great erotica/porn. 

Angela White

Gala Vanting

Liandra Dahl

The motivation to return to this project came after heated discussion with a student about women in pornography.  Yet again this cliche idea of women being victims within this industry came up, and I listened to stereotype after stereotype about what sort of women work in the adult industry.  So to that student, you know who you are, I'm not mentioning your name here as I know you have a desire for a political career and I'm sure being mentioned on a blog that talks about porn is not the type of publicity you would like!

Til next post.

The Band is finally here!

I always feel as though I should start my blog with an apology that it has been soooo long since I last wrote an entry.   Generally, I try to wait until a few things have happened in my filmmaking life before I write about them, but other times I wonder if I should just write about anything and everything.....but I'm guessing most of you don't want to know about the hand painted wrapping paper I made with my small child!

Now that I have finished teaching for the year and the arduous task of marking is behind me, I once again have 3 blissful months to concentrate on what I love best, making films. Its time that brings me great joy as I can actually embark on creating in my office.  During the teaching semester I have only one day a week here, which seems to be eaten up by admin, orders, tax, etc, so its lovely to finally be able to tackle the big creative things I have been wanting to all year!

It has arrived.

Yes its finally happened.  There is now an Australia release of The Band.  Its strictly limited numbers, so once they are gone, there will be no more!  Thanks to those who all pre-ordered, they all received a special thank you present.  Order your copy here.  It's a great present for someone who loves smut and music.

I've been working on a new documentary called "Doing it Her way!", more details to come soon.

New release of The Band!

Yes its finally happening there is going to be a limited Australian edition of The Band!

If you are interested in getting your hands on a copy, you can pre order them through my online shop.

As I said the numbers will be strictly limited so don't miss out, order one today!

Falling in...... Stage 2

Stage 2 is now up and happening and you can check it out the NGV studio from yesterday, Thursday 27th until Sun 30th September 2012. The Studio is open from 10 - 10 Thu - Sat and 10 - 5 Sun.

My video piece is being projected onto the Falling sculptures made by Annee Miron.

And next year the choreographer Favela Vera Ortiz and dancer, Sanna From, arrive from Finland for Stage 3.

I was quite happy with how the video images have turned out and it was great fun to edit them as I could experiement and play with footage unlike a traditional narrative based project. 

Yesterday, we had some problems with the projection, mainly being that the space is sooo light filled that the images are quite hard to see.  The photo above was taken at night and the images are stronger and clearer then.

This is the same image late afternoon.  It actually comes up better as a photo than looking at it with the naked eye.

Its given me food for thought I will go away and rework a few things ready for the next stage!

Developing "Falling in...."

A work in progress by Annee Miron.

This evening I am off to begin shooting a collaborative piece with Melbourne Artist Annee Miron and Finnish- Argentinian choreographer Favela Vera Ortiz.  It is currently entitled "Falling in ....(insert city of choice)" and is an exploration of sleep.  My partner finds this very amusing as I struggle with insomnia and they feels I have limited personal knowledge of the topic!!

However, via various online medium we have been discussing the project for several months now and Annee has just completed an artist in residence at Yarra Sculpture Gallery, so it has given her an opportunity to begin building pieces.

Getting closer

After what feels like a long hiatus from shooting anything, its nice to be able to create again, but what I am finding most stimulating is the method in which I am working.  Lately, my work has been long format and narrative in style, where as this piece is more experimental, like my earlier work.  Its such a liberating way of working as there is less structure and we bounce ideas off each other.  I don't feel the usual pressure of shooting as it isn't constrained to a set period of time and the nature and stage of the work means that I can go back later and shoot again.  Very liberating and stimulating too.

Up close and personal

Inside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are some images I took while visiting Annee in the gallery last week with Royce who had a great time playing in and out of the work.  The gallery, as you can imagine has not heated, so it was freezing cold, but a few cups of tea and a shared coffee scroll later I hardly noticed it at all.  Royce's hand were like little icebergs by the end but he was having so much fun and like most children doesn't feel the cold!

I'll post more images later this week.

Annee helps Royce climb "Rope Mountain".

Video On Demand

Its been a very long time between post and please excuse my slackness but I have been dealing with some big health issues, but more on that at a later date.

However, I have been setting up some of my films as Video On Demand or VOD, which is very exciting to have my films enter the next phase of distribution options available to independent filmmakers.

So please find below some of the titles currently available and I will be adding more as time goes on.

THE BAND




BEHIND THE SCENES- THE BAND




MAKING IT HANDMADE



I hope you enjoy!