been a bit busy to wrap out the end of year dogged by a myriad of deadlines with films to deliver, some for kicks, for art's sake, others for money, which still ended up being fun despite the challenges & sleep deprivation involved.
still hoping to make it out of town & head to the hills tonight for a couple of days with my fellow waghorn chick fam, raen miro & gina to slowly inhale oxygen before jumping back into the incense-filled fiery fray... one lunch is not enough, like shrinking hours in the day.
today while chasing music files [we lovingly fucked up the xanadu soundtrack - thanks to liam O then added a hijacked new york broadway composer (alexander)to feed back live into it on his amped up violin], bind content for our psychedelic state peats ridge curated DVD loops [we squeezed in some sydney KINO films] this xmas eve instead of gift wrapping & chase time with eager vengeance, i want to pimp our punk monk propaganda film festival: 15MB of FAME.
15MB of FAME is our new baby. in addition to our star alchemists: kate, alex & clare painting the dome in liquid light we're collaborating with the dome team at rejenr8 this NYE in glenworth valley for this exciting project while we dwell in the land of hopeless utopians. 360 degrees of visual love created by the people for the people. it all seems rather che doesn't it?
if you are one of the thousands of people coming to peats ridge sustainable arts & music festival this year, you can not only see our finished film on NYE, you can be part of it. it's crowd-sourcing baybee! because our universal perspective is unique & everyone's festival experience isn't the same. let's share your 15MB worth & celebrate the differences to bring the new year in with a feel good bang.
sydney KINO has lost our fave stomping ground which was fraser studios off broadway. sadly as the urban gentrification hits the dirged street corners which we love & the old adjacent brewery converts to expensive high rise inner city loft apartments, the noise complaints come.
as we desperate filmmakers deign to find a new underground home to accommodate us, a spot of nostalgia led me to a fairly recent soiree which is my last photographic memory of that which was, and the habitat it provided us gutter snipes where dumpsters were worthy of a second investigation when a long drunken walk home seemed unfeasible after one too many free jamesons. in fact it serves as the only memory. such is often the posthumous KINO way.
the worst part of losing fraser studios as a venue is arguably after KINO drinks at the clare. many moons back we lushed after films at the strawberry hotel but like quacking ducks we took to the clare like water & in no time at all there was no place like home. aaah, the bliss of the couches & shabby chic surrounds. the shelves of jagermeister lined up like eager soldiers ready to gun down a surrendering throat & jugs on endless tap... no snapping of red heels required dorothy.
of course at times the alcoholic storm was too much to be weathered & required emergency trips to the bathroom...
where we would re-meet old unfocusable cherished friends.
which is really awesome until...
the weight of the universe & excessive evening consumption combined with good times & often films would weigh heavily down upon us. how can life be so sweet?
the next chapter of sydney KINO awaits with the settling in of a new home. follow us there for great film, live performance, food, alcohol... it's a religion for some.
with conFICTION KINO regular, punk monk propaganda's victoria waghorn delivers random slices of life from around the world around her. much like the characterisation of any short film.
extract from KSZ #03 [kino sydney zine]
sketchy the cat gazed happily out into the golden hour from his balcony vantage point atop the world summit [at least in his reality].
his unprecedented arrival disturbed the swooping cockatoos who squawked their disapproval as they flew off to meet the rising sun.
leaving more than footprints, spent seed shells rattled on the balcony rails in their wake.
a solitary chair basked under the warming rays forcing the last stubborn shards of frost to run. noone rushed to sit, it was still too cold.
metal flowers rose like ancient stonehenge dancers to salute the backlit séance of the moon. invisible bees humming to their ghostly beat.
under the water tank overflow into a recycled tub teeming with slo mo mosquito juveniles a slimy hose impersonating a broken tap, dripped.
meanwhile the feline breakfast bar lay uncharacteristically neglected. that fat cat was having way too much fun soaking up the view.
BTS with AWOL MONK: friend & neon animator Jack Feldstein in New York talks the talk, whilst simultaneously walking/flying.
the unabridged #KSZ 03 [sydney kino zine] version
KINO legend, neon animator & darling of the Rotterdam Film Fest, Jack Feldstein left our shores a few months back for the lofty heights of NYC. How dare he leave & is it all worth it? This is what he said.
Who are you? No really.
It'll take me...all my life to work that out...I'll never have a complete answer.
ET
Or...maybe... a package of paradoxes... who believes in going for his dreams.
Someone once described me as a man with "unbridled passion"... and that sounds right.
At school my favourite subject was integral and differential calculus. No, really. I'm not kidding. My facts are I was initially uni trained in science (pharmacology)...I left that to pursue scriptwriting and studied at AFTRS (Scriptwriting) and NIDA (Playwriting) and NYU (School of Dramatic Writing)... worked as a scriptwriter...and then after a while... did classes on Post modern and Modern art theory at COFA...which led to my neon animation filmmaking.
Personally...I was married very young and divorced very quickly after a couple of years. (No kids). I've been in a series of live-in relationships...
Now, as you know, I'm in a long distance relationship (which I'm learning ain't easy!)... with my perfect match. Madeleine.
I think the only constant in the "who are you?" question...is that it looks like I keep changing a hell of a lot.
When you grow up you want to be...
Taller. :^) ...someone who's always growing up.
You've got a very distinctive film style much witnessed over time at sydney KINO. How did it transpire? Does one need to be a technical wizard to neon-animate?
I see the world as I present it... in my neon animations. Very verbal, kinetic, energetic, quick, vivid, absurd. Perhaps, a neon animation is a peek into the inside of my mind. How I think I see things. My neon animations are perhaps representations... of what it's like to be... Feldstein.
I live in my head and a neon animation is the view from there. There's a film called BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. That film resonates with how I make neon animations. Artistically, I started off as a scriptwriter...and made my living that way for quite a long while. At the core of me...I'm a passionate writer. ...A definition of a neon animation...might be the physical projection of how I, as a writer, think. ( There's the science part coming out!)
Technically it's time consuming...but that's irrelevant. It's totally the content that matters to me.
Where do you take inspiration from?
Things I'm passionate about. Which I seek out in the world. Often they're in the conceptual/ideas realm.
You're pretty much a one man band. Your films are often completely & wonderfully self-created/contained from script to screen. If you were to collaborate with anyone who would it be and why?
I am collaborating with people. Here in New York. But also prior.
Through KINO SYDNEY I collaborated with Dan/Luke Simmonds (Meatpig)...and their song Neutron Betty...on THE ATOMIC ADVENTURES OF JACK KEROUAC..and that the New Yorkers/Americans really get into that one...so I'm grateful and appreciative for that...
My next neon animation "YOU'RE ONLY AS SICK AS YOUR SECRETS" is a project I'm creating in conjunction with a brilliant tragi-comedy duo I've met here. (Rick and Jenny) .
I'd like to say...that I'm a humanist, pluralist, relativist. ("All men are brothers" and other wildly unfashionable concepts)... And so I've always considered myself a citizen of the world. Rather than of a particular nation. I know that's idealistic and unrealistic and naive...but I can't help it. It's the way I think. So a city like New York...with its remarkable diversity and the forcing of differing cultural co-existence by dint of proximity...suits me in a way I hadn't quite realized previously.
The world, my friends...is simply a fascinating place...
An observation I continue to learn here.
And this ties in with the next question.
photo by: catherine davies
You're in New York. Why? What's happening there that isn't here? *pouts sulkily*
First of all... let me say SYDNEY is wonderful!
So now we've got that out of the way...my science side will come to the fore.
It's merely a numbers game. The USA has over 350 million people. Say 0.5% of them are artists. That's 1.75 million people. And many of them flock to NYC. New York is the USA center for indie art. It's a world center for indie art. That's historical. So apart from the Americans who gather here...artists from all over the world do too.
The density of artists here is astonishing...creating a vibrant cultural environment.
Artists bring new and original ideas. Thus the rate of new ideas here...is mind-blowing. A person, if they look, will definitely find what interests them. To me...new/original ideas are incredibly inspiring. Because I then get passionate about the new idea/thing...and want to collaborate with it.
My particular interests/passions are psychological/humorous/intellectual/literary/ironic/paradoxical/conceptual (etc). As I've mentioned before...it's the content of a thing that counts most to me...(I'm a reductionist...it's what they are saying that matters to me)
Look...I'm blabbing on too much attempting to write some analytical thesis.
In short...due to the sheer amount of people/artists here...I've easily found others whose work fascinates me.
So in my neon animations...I'm collaborating with...
A monologist Asian/American gal who entertainingly and nuancedly and intelligently monologues about racism. The comedy duo who are psychologically brave and honest and confronting in their tragi-comedy. A guy who is hysterically comic...(born that way)...and whose delivery makes anything I write far funnier then when I do it.
But also in my playwriting...one of my plays is being workshopped for possible production. And...some of my short plays have been picked up to be performed in unexpected places like Macy's... and even nite clubs...around New York.
I have also been approached by NYC bands and singer/songwriters to make music videos in neon animation for them. BOTANICA...commissioned me to make "YOU MIGHT BE THE ONE" which is being screened on MTV Europe (where they're well known because they sing in English, French and German)...and what's great is their check didn't bounce! :^)
Is the film culture in the States that much different to Australia. Can the KINO DIY spirit survive and be sustained in the cinematic Holy Land?
DIY...or indie culture...which I am a true believer in... relies on the individual. It's irrelevant where that individual is. He/she could be in Antartica!
If you had a film survival kit what would it include? Is it much different to life?
Not any different to life. Keep going and don't drop dead. :^)
Will we see you at SYDNEY KINO again? How do we follow your trail? Is there any of your work online...
Of course I'll be back visiting...you can see the music video YOU MIGHT BE THE ONE here...
In a while...YOU'RE ONLY AS SICK AS YOUR SECRETS will be posted online. I'll let you know.
BTS with AWOL MONK: talking to heremaia rudkin about the "what if girl"
extract from #KSZ 02 [sydney kino zine]
ironically this month's behind the scenes featured filmmaker whose amazing almost bus stop romance originally captured my imagination at newtown flicks is featured in #KSZ02. the zine was released last night on the night of kino#37 where steven kastrissios who featured last month in BTS with AWOL MONK for issue 01 had an equally enigmatic almost bus stop romance short film screen as his first ever KINO film. stop the zeitgeist bus! the trick is whether there's a trifecta... tune in next month & see.
heremaia rudkin despite being disarmingly handsome is a quintessentially bashful kiwi boy made good. although he’d never admit it.
we shared some locally brewed beers last wknd on an erskineville pavement under the sun & talked about the recent success of his no/lo-budget film WHAT IF GIRLwhich was awarded the panavision industry prize at the recent cool kid on the festival block, newtown flicks as well as playing in the shortlisted “audience bites back” finale night which featured the most popular film from each previous sesh.
upon seeing the film i made a direct beeline. he oozes a polished yet casual KINO sensibility asking big questions in small format. his film is, dare i say, like him likeable. extremely identifiable. in a savvy understated eastern suburbs kinda way. despite being an inner west fest, the dilemma universal.
a graduate of NZ film school, heremaia dabbles in video production by day to pay bills but his passion for story telling takes him into the wonderful world of film at night. and yes his nan helped finance his short. hello australian film industry.
newtown flicks is the test fest for the film & it’s an undeniably great result & infinitely valuable springboard. newtown flicks provides a respected forum & veritable hotbed of talent lurking beneath the cinematic radar while gallantly competing this year with the competitive film calendar by going head to head with the 57th sydney film festival. a scheduling nightmare but still viable due to the scope of the programme. closing night was near full with all bums accounted for on seats.
encouraged heremaia now looks to his new town to provide the stimulus & setting for many more films with an avant garde music video in the works & a very different story. We talk 7D. canon has really hit the indie filmmaker sweet spot — there’s an observable trend. every other indie filmmaker is ditching their large format HDV cameras & downsizing/upgrading to the canon DSLR with HD video range.
his challenge [a problem common to many emerging financially-strapped filmmakers] however is to build a tribe to work with.
like the born-again pimp i am, i tell him about the new cine religion at fraser studios one monday a month & he promises to come. one thing there is no shortage of in sydney is a film subculture coupled with a community which supports & nurtures fresh talent. whether or not he does come, there is no “what if” about heremaia's promising screen future.
NB. images used are copyright the filmmaker [heremaia rudkin]. thanks to heremaia for use of pics]
BTS with AWOL MONK is a regular behind the scenes segment which can be found in every issue of kino sydney's zine produced by punk monks clare devlin-mahoney, alexander papasavvas & kate taylor with contributions from other kino lovers. [#ksz]
BTS with AWOL MONK: - talking to steven kastrissios about the horseman
extract from #KSZ 01 [first issue sold out may 2010]
steven kastrissios is a man of immense paradox. BEHIND THE SCENES he’s gentle, humble & wry. we’ve become great friends since we met in 2008 at a night of horror international film festival.
but his multiple award-winning accolade ripping feature film THE HORSEMANwhich he’s just sold for international distribution reveals a guy ritchie on steroids meets early rolf de heer auteur. his characterisation brutal. bad boy bubby has left the building & moved into pest control. *sideways look*
the horseman story is one of fairytales. the kind with blood, sweat & tears. lots of blood. this is no holds barred action with gritty realism. steven envisaged it & succeeded. in the cinema i’ve seen people leave. in horror. i did some quiet gut wrenching of my own.
made on the wings of a short prayer based on his feature screenplay to garner interest, the brisbane exile then made this, his first feature in true blue indie fashion.
instead of a big fat greek wedding his parents invested their house against the now defunct 10BA cert [since replaced by the producer offset] to support his dream & his sisters eloped. well almost.
the gamble paid huge dividends since the end of 2006 when a small multi-tasking crew used one location in oh so many ways to stretch budget till the lycra was all spent & producer rebecca dakin could cook no more after a brilliantly choreographed 4 week shoot for what is technically a no-budget film. by australian standards.
as the awards rained down, steven returned to newly adopted sydney from a successful session at texas’s SXSW 2009 to wrap the marketing material for distributors & consider the calm before the prevailing storm.
we discuss the current climate for making films. “noone returned my calls before either” he says as we ruefully discuss my plans for his shiny new 5D mark II & share fantastical post-apocalyptic visions for future projects.
he leaves after drinking wine to catch a plane for his sister’s engagement party. like the prodigal son/brother he is, he has returned & she got her dowry back.
NB. "the horseman" images [including production shots] are copyright kastle films. thanks for letting me use them steven. the rest are copyleft/creative commons courtesy of yours truly.
for details re: the horseman australian theatrical release later this year please check kastle films. BTS with AWOL MONK is a regular behind the scenes segment which can be found in every issue of kino sydney's zine produced by punk monks clare devlin-mahoney, alexander papasavvas & kate taylor with contributions from other kino lovers. [#ksz]
what other genre or mechanism is there where we are afforded full unambiguous shameless colour, song & dance in modern day cinema? the guilty pleasure of a massive population stemming from mumbai india and then spreading around the world gives us what are essentially post modern elvis & timeless sirens in full technicolor productions with probably even more hip swaggering cheese, drama & fun.
the massive hindi cultural vehicle which has essentially become a cinema style has been entertaining millions around the world since its inception in the 70s as an infusion between bombay & hollywood although the bengalese film tradition started way back in tollygunge which was in the early 1900s the hub of the evolving indian industry.
tollywood became bollywood with the geographical shift as india took over america's role as the largest film producer in the world & moved to bombay. i guess technically it should be called mollywood these days...
in 2010 i will be producing a low budget bollywood feature film to be shot in sydney which is an australian/indian production. it's an excuse to embrace fantasy, fun and hard work in an intense environment perhaps even more unreal than usual. i mean even kylie's doing it...
it's come on the back of some hard work with my tribe punk monk propaganda & a bunch of us will be heavily involved in this feature which is incredibly exciting follow through for all our humble but big vision short film & event installation work. some of this can be found on punk monk propaganda's facebook, vimeo or youtube pages. most months we can be spotted at sydney's KINO, showcasing intermittent experimental projects.
something on a much larger scale has just happened for another unknown director in uruguay. comparing our work is like dwarf apples and um, precious persimmons, but check out this vid which was uploaded on youtube last month [nov 2009]. so far it's received over 1.5 million views. he's just been sponsored by sam raimi to produce a 30 million dollar feature... the story isn't particularly original but the execution is breathless. all for less than your weekly rent...
i did that once too for a script to screen five day challenge for KINO [KABARET] after coming out of a year long deep dark depression which is how i met a couple of punk monks. the landlord suffered and this is the film we made. poles apart from fede alvarez's masterpiece but nonetheless we're very proud:
throw some passion in and maybe dreams can really come true.
that's bolly/hollywood!
[and now for fun a really cool little film a friend of mine made, which i saw yesterday for the very first time]
eco-terrorism & guerrilla experimental filmmaking are a match made in heaven. this friday [23.10.2009] this collusionary force can be witnessed at the red rattler when punk monk propaganda put our hat into the ring to support activist art for the album launch [shoot to the moon] & copenhagen climate change send-off for lovely local band, the lurkers.
the subversive folk trio recently provided some award nominating banjo sounds for our 48 hour film project film "hybristo honeymooners", on friday we'll all win as they come together with vox, guitar, double bass & banjo in a fine bluegrass fusion of pure uplifting satire.
in support of their cause we've curated a collection of sustainable sumptuous cinema where beauty meets dream state meets reality. our handmade punk monk and kino friends cine zine [glue still drying] outlines the thirteen films which will play tonight [starting 19:00 sharp].
punk monk lurker love cine:
into the woods - dir: dermot mcguire 04:11
siren - dir: anna slowciazek & rosie catalano01:13
one day, this kid - dir: matt ravier04:24
the sleeper - dir: kate taylor05:27
recycling… save the earth! - dir: jack feldstein00:37
happiness - dir: marianne alla03:46
3am mosquito - dir: victoria waghorn12:57
the adventures of catz - dir: dan simmonds04:18
ex oblivione - dir: jack feldstein05:05
sakura no onna - dir: stevie dunstan04:07
chick addict - dir: victoria waghorn02:00
sadness breakfast tea - dir: angela bishop03:43
i look through transparent things [and i feel OK] - dir: matt ravier04:24
get the zine in your envelope at the door with other goodies we've created just for you including a magic printed eucalyptus leaf to write your aspirations for the conference to hang on our papier-mâché wishing tree installation which will hang for the night before accompanying the lurkers to the climate change conference as a mission statement of what sydney wants to happen.
look. listen. speak. act [in chillax mode]. FTW.
[apologies for weird formatting issues - blame blogger]
sometimes i feel like i belong to an evangelical society -- such is the unstoppable feel-good tide which is the underground film movement, KINO & the associated reverence it creates amongst its followers.
last night was KINO #29 which was held at new über venue fraser studios, just behind the clare on broadway, skirting the fringe of sydney's CBD [where we ultimately ended up before the adorable dregs made it back to mine at the corner shop for an impromptu hot chip cooking session].
eighteen short films screened head-lined by incredibly talented jack's wonderful tribute to HP lovecraft [just selected for the 5th singapore short film festival] which irrevocably raised the bar for the night. still there were many other great films to follow including punk monk andy's oficially popping his KINO cherry with twisted love ballad, "a little shitty animation."
the very french & venerable leader miss marianne MC'd to a crowd of 150 peeps whilst matt projected & shone, karina expertly organised & punk monks clare & alex made crepes for all whilst the rest of us downed whiskey upon whiskey [or coopers beer] courtesy of will at the jamesons bar. the festivalists continue to place their indelible & delightful film stamp all over sydney town.
in my crippled introverted sobriety i mostly hung quietly by my prized heater spot at the front where the ever lovely stephen C & i shared a blankie under the pulsing short cinematic wave whilst giant incandescent cubes glowed all around us in picture perfect warehouse chic.
as promised, i also made a little experimental film just for fun with stevie the night before. a tribute to our night out earlier in the week where we hit the 80s themed roller disco at carriageworks in full furore & i just happened to have my trusty mobile phone...
creative dysfunctional colour child + renegade fringe dweller of possible worlds. a bonafide cinephile + lover of magic. founder of punk monk propaganda: an active mutating experimental film tribe + socio-political art collective spawned from sydney's industrial fringe.
all images/content copyleft punk monk propaganda 2005-2012 unless otherwise stated. if you wish to repost or use anything from this website please credit me & pass on with love/respect. creative commons is the future. thanks!
