Hobby

I had the closest thing to a day off last week - and I decided to process the rolls of film that have been piling up in my room. All were taken on 35mm with an archaic (but oh-so-cute) Canon A-1 camera from the early 70s. It was the first time in 9 years I had processed films, and I have to say, I forgot how addictive the whle excercise was. Here are some of my favourates (Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Hanging Rock).







If only I had more time, I'd do more photography...

Scramble

I'm just heading to bed, but couldn't quite turn the light out before blogging.

My computers are roaring away rendering the graphics for Georgia Field's (very) nearly finished music video (sneak peek, above). Can't wait for people to see it. Aside from the fact that I've put a lot of work into it, it's easily the most fun, viewable, accessable piece of work I've made to date... and I think people will dig the song too.

This week is going to be MEGA. I've a few more media interviews about the upcoming Bayside Film Festival (Annette, PR person for the festival has been brilliant...), I'm shooting test stuff for the feature project I am to shoot at the end of the year (in studio, Tues), I'm processing the squillions of photos I've been taking the last few months (with a pair of experienced hands, nearby), I'm in pre production for another music video (on Super 8mm), and I'm also prepping for one of those (vaguely intimidating) PhD progress meetings. There's also a steady stream of correspondence with film festivals (and even a few interested television networks)... The thing is... that... by and large, I'm doing (or promoting) things I love. So, I really have no complaints about the mad scramble that's going on.

I was looking at booking a few weeks trekking holiday in September, but I definitely can't fit it in now. Going in, say, November, is out of the question now that I've decided what major project I'll be working on next, and am slowly gearing towards a late Nov / early Dec shoot (of at least 10 days)... I'll either forego holidaying in 2009 (a pity, but perhaps necessary), or downscale somewhat. Watch this (hastily scheduled) space.

Global

As I type this, the 20 minute doc Queer Science is about to be screened on the other side of the world as part of NewFest, in New York City. Michael Vallarelli, composer extraordinaire, will be in attendance. I toyed with the idea of going, but there's so much on my plate, and it seemed a lot of money, time and jetlag for 20 minutes of film, particularly as I'm now trying to get the Teacher doc out and about, and may travel with that film in 2009/10. Regardless, my work has suddenly gone irreversably global.

T is for Teacher (70 mins) has been selected for the International Film Festival of Ireland (at Galway, to be sure), which will be in September. A lot of festivals have started sending me emails requesting screener copies for both, and I'm now on first name basis with my local Australia Post staff. Cable networks have contacted me out of the blue with a view to consider purchase of T is for Teacher. It's an exciting time, but it's also a bit of a hard juggle, managing to get the film dubs and dvds out to festivals, the endless correspondence, and just keeping up with my current schedule of projects, phd and the "next big [top secret] thing" currently in the works.

For all you Melbournians, on the heels of the MQFF screening at ACMI, T is for Teacher is one of the main features of this years Bayside Film Festival, at Brighton Palace Cinemas.


I've also finally put my website together. I've been a bit selective about what work to feature on it, focussing mainly on the projects that I am proud to be associated with, but also which have been publicly recognised. When I put together a shortlist of things I had worked on, I was staggered by how much ground I have made since When Darkness Falls. I think sometimes, in the mad flurry of things, it's easy to be hard on yourself, and certainly doubt where you're headed, but the experience of putting the site together has really reinforced that I've had some amazing artistic experiences in the last few years. I'm fairly happy with the design for now, but I'm sure it will need tweaking as more content is added.

Stretched

At the moment, I'm stretched thin over a few projects... I've just filmed a music video for the utterly adorable and brilliant Georgia Fields, which will be completed sometime this month (though the single launch isn't until August, so I don't think it will start circulating until mid year). I've also begun preparing work with a writing partner for a possible pitch later in the year, and have been blogging other gems of script away in a private wordpress account, with a view to putting another pitch together in 2010. There have been talks of further collaboration with X:Machine which will be a nice way to pay bills doing things I love with a bunch of creative types... and of course, there's still a lot of festivalin' to do with my current documentaries. The plate is definitely full... I just need to find enough time to eat...

Screenings

T is for Teacher has been picked up by Bayside Film Festival (Melbourne). It's great that it will have a second festival screening in my home town - something that often doesn't happen with documentary works. Queer Science, the shorter documentary, will be screening at Newfest (New York). Both screenings take place in July, but I don't have specific dates or times yet. There has been a lot of interest in T is for Teacher, Stateside, but I haven't secured the American premiere yet (I didn't have a final edit of Teacher finished for the NY deadline).

...pictures

Some of my favourates from the SLAP! campaign photoshoot. These (and the rest) will be online when the company website goes live, sometime in the next month.

Pretty...

Mad weekend. Socializing, catching up with people, prepping for music video production and all day Saturday spent doing a photoshoot. The shoot was for SLAP! cosmetics, a Melbourne based company, and had a very quirky early 80s studio photography vibe. A long day, but a lot of fun. I'll post some of the final images here in the coming week.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

*yawn*

What a mad few weeks.

Have done a tonne of press for the screening (SBS worldview, RRR, 3CR, JoyFM, BentTV, The Age, MCV, Star Observer)... I guess I'm getting adept at answering questions with some degree of clarity. Interestingly, there were only some 70 tickets left *before* the press went out, and at time of writing, there's still tickets left. I don't know whether doing press has really added to ticket sales, but I guess it is nice in terms of preparation for the film Q and A and raises profile for future projects. The preview DVDs for reviewers/interviewers seem to have gone down well, so I'm not tooooo nervous about how the film will be recieved. Come Saturday, I'm sure I'll be a mess though. There's been a few issues getting the dubs done for the MQFF, but thankfully that's now past tense.... There seems to be a recurring pattern for Spong screenings - strong press / public interest and frustrating technical hitches just [days] before the show.

I guess I have a lot to be happy and excited about. And I am. But, I'm also pretty exhausted. I'm juggling work / short course / film admin / festival applications / press. I've barely seen my friends. I haven't taken a photo in what feels like years. I haven't been eating well. Or exercising. Or watching films. I'm missing California a little.... and I'm missing travel a LOT.

I think I'll organise a weekend away somewhere as soon as this is all over.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]