DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

The rest of my time in Sydney raced by far too quickly. I met up with many old, friendly faces. Some new mates appeared as if my magic, like Emma who was visiting from Mumbai. She and Cam were robbed in Geneva and she lost her passports and visas. She had to come back to Oz to get a new Indian visa, so we had a mini Mumbai reunion with her gorgeous mate Reesh.

Funny how fidelity is a theme that keeps popping up of late. Ems and I had a long chat about it and I just saw a play that explored its importance. More on that later though.

The uber talented Ian Darling kindly agreed to make some space for us to meet, despite the fact that he's deep in pre production on a 20 minute fiction short (he usually makes docs) that he has written, is directing and producing. He was inspired by the intricately twisted stories of the people he met when making his most recent documentary for the ABC called THE OASIS. It's an incredible film about street kids and a wonderful man called Paul (and his devoted wife) who runs a drop in centre in the middle of Sydney with the Salvos. It's extraordinary.

Ian is very humble about his achievements, but Rachael has roped him into doing a Friday On My Mind, which I'm sure will be great. He starts shooting his film very soon and I wish him and his crew the very best. Thanks for the lift Ian. He dropped me off after our meet at The Pier. My golly gosh what a fantabulous restaurant. I was treated to the most delicious meal in beautiful Rose Bay. Talk about spoilt rotten!!

The next morning I woke up Phillip Adams, who is such an old friend of my father's. They used to be the closest of colleagues and friends, and though they hardly see each other anymore, the bond is SO strong. We had agreed a time that surprised me (9.30am) as he does a late night radio show, but after ringing and ringing the bell he answered and looked utterly shattered. I told him all about my Legacy idea and the various things I'm working on and he couldn't have been more supportive. It's so encouraging to get such positive feedback, across the board, but from someone who has spent his life interviewing people and delving into real life stories, it was fascinating to get his take on how the idea might develop.

I left Phillip's incredible pad (he's into Egyptology so the house is filled with astounding figures and spears and knick knacks) with such a spring in my step, and wound my way through Paddington and into a beautiful park and somehow ended up in Rushcutters Bay. I'm always amazed when I make it where I'm supposed to be going. I have such a hideous sense of direction, so must have a map with me at all times. My worst habit it getting out of stations and talking on the phone and just walking a million miles an hour whilst chatting and not knowing where the hell I'm going. I suddenly realise that I'm utterly lost and hang up in a panic. Not an ideal habit!

Anyway, lunch was with the heavenly Murray Bell who runs Semi Permanent - a design conference that is finally coming to Melbourne later this year. He and I met through my great mate Jeremy Boxer in London and it's been fun keeping tabs on how Murray and Semi P have developed. We had a munch in the sunshine with his divine dog Bo snuffling around us.

That night I had the best fun hooning around town saying goodbye to everyone. I ended up at a random party somewhere called The Club where I danced around with a bunch of the best girls. Thank you Christine, Alice and Clare for going the distance. Not to mention everyone else who made it a wonderful send off for me. You're all gorgeous and Jo, you're so right that Icebergs is divine. I also had a ball at Darlo Bar. It brought back so many memories of when I was last in Sydney.

Sigh! Wish I had the energy to fill you in on marvellous Melbourne and what's been going on since my return but I leave that for next time. You'll have to wait to hear about the breathtaking ANZAC dawn service, the hideous Collywobbles, Hame's birthday bash, Caroline's play and more....the Logies are this Sunday. You should see the shoes I bought today for the occasion.

Lxxxx

ROCKING SYDNEY & THE ASTRAS

Sydney is such a blast. I absolutely adore this stunning city!

I've been welcomed back with open arms by so many old friends and colleagues. After some initial sunshine there has been quite a bit of crazy, tropical rain but nothing can dampen my spirits right now.

Tony Barber took me to the ASTRA awards on the Fox lot. Unfortunately his divine wife Helen has been unwell, so I got to be his date!! He is not only one of the nicest men on the planet, but he's an incredible host. He knew so many interesting people and was in attendance representing TV1, who he does a lot of work for. They had a tranche of nominations, mainly for their program STUPID, STUPID MEN.

TV1 walked off with quite a few awards, so our tables got very happy. Why there have to be quite so many awards at these things I'll never know and they're always baking hot, but lots of fun. Peter Hudson (CEO of TV1) was our host and what a lovely man he is. I was lucky to be amidst a great crew and we had pole position of the main stage. One problem was that during the award presentations or performances, the waiters weren't allowed to serve booze. So we had to keep racing behind the curtain to get more wine, I crossed paths with many fun people behind the velvet curtains.

I loved the cast of MEN, particularly Leah Vandenberg who looked gorgeous in her traditional Indian dress. Of course we immediately connected about India (she's of Sri Lankan descent) and swapped many stories. Matthew Newton was racing about looking dashing and of course Tone's known him via his father Bert since he was a wee tot. Wayne Hope and I chatted over the course of the eve, I was curious that after he won the award for Best Perf by a Male Actor (beating Matt) he then got up and gave a scathing attack on Pay TV. It was funny at times, but a bit surprising given that the room was full of the top execs with fat (tish) pay cheques.

When we walked the red carpet, we chatted to the divine Miss M - that's Madga Szubanski - who looked glorious in a tight black dress, Marilyn Monroe hair and red lips. Her tap dancing routine on stage was the highlight of the night. She was presenting with Wayne during his diatribe and looked a touch surprised, but handled it well. I guess those nights need a bit of a shake up, but I doubt it will make it into the telecast later this week.

The opening number was a raucous routine by a gang of Stomp dancers. They were incredible - so energetic and fun, banging on garbage cans New York style. At the after party, I had a lovely chat to Alison Whyte (heavenly redhead) who won the Best Perf by a Female Actor for her role in the saucy SATISFACTION, caught up with Peter O'Brien after many many years (we met via the gorgeous Lisa Hensley years ago at Notting Hill Carnival) and then made a bee line for the Stomp dancers, who were carving up the dance floor. Sorry Troy, loved your breakdancing moves but I had to hit the hay!

I must mention my wonderful friend Rachael Turk who left her post as Editor of Inside Film (one of the top Aussie film mags) to pursue her own projects at the end of last year. She's hosting these brilliant nights at the AFTRS (Australia's best film school) called Friday On My Mind. I went to the last one to support her and thought it was excellent. They've got a session on SAMPSON & DELILAH coming up, which is an incredible film. It is a modern, fucked up Romeo & Juliet story, that's set in an Aboriginal township outside Alice Springs. I must say, it made me proud to come back to an industry that funds films such as this. It got major buzz at the Adelaide Film Festival, where MY YEAR WITHOUT SEX (the wonderful director Sarah Watt's new film, which Andy B has also invested in) opened the festival.

I'm also fascinated to see that there is a doc that's in post at the moment called INTO THE SHADOWS. It's about the Aussie industry and what's wrong with it. They interviewed Rachael for the film, along with BALIBO's Rob Connelly, Bruce Beresford and many more luminaries from the industry. They're exploring why audiences just don't respond (particularly in Oz) to Aussie films. There is rarely more than one break out (internationally) film a year and there should be more. It's strange, because audiences really remember the good films that have catapulted into our consciousness (KENNY & WOLF CREEK are probably the most successful of late but LANTANA, THE CASTLE, MURIEL'S WEDDING, PRISCILLA & STRICTLY BALLROOM are some of the best films made anywhere, anytime) and think the industry must be robust.

There are some good moves being made, for example I read that this year there are over 40 features coming out in Oz (almost one a week) and that's double the last few years, directly due to tax breaks. There are obviously many, many more being produced but those are films with distribution deals and that are on exhibitors' slates. I can't wait to see how people respond to Wayne Thornton's SAMPSON & DELILAH as it's a tough watch and sell, but it's pure poetry. I saw a preview screening with Andy, Matt Hearn (Producer of ROGUE, WOLF CREEK) and Julius Avery (whose short JERRYCAN has won so many accolades, particularly the Special Jury Prize in Cannes last year where I met him) and we were all blown away.

So if you get the chance to go to Rachael's Friday on My Mind or can seek out S&D, I say go and support our industry. I must get on the road as I've got lots of people to see before I leave on Friday.

Ahhh, the sun has just come out.
Divine.

SHOOTING STARS IN RURAL OZ

What a way to fall back in love with one’s country. Just hit the road and immerse yourself in the landscape. And the people.

For my first project, I’ve been lucky enough to be invited into the fold of a close knit family who after a bit of cajoling, opened up to the camera like a bunch of pros. My first Aussie client for Legacy is a fascinatingly diverse Catholic family who are spread around Victoria and over the boarder into NSW.

The matriarch of the family had 14 children of which 12 survived and she now has 31 grandchildren. I’m making the film with her eldest grandchild, who is a very old friend of mine, Andrew Barlow.

His father John is the eldest sibling and luckily he was there over Easter to vouch for me. Which made a huge difference. Having known him for about 20 years, I guess mutual respect was evident and that allowed for his gorgeous Mum and fascinating siblings to trust me. Though they took a bit of convincing, some more than others, we managed to get a huge amount of footage and interviews done.

It was such a different experience for me, as usually I interview filmmakers about their projects and though we may talk about challenging things, it’s overall pretty positive. I have never had to deal with uncomfortable emotions. And the tears flowed, freely at times and tough memories were aired. It was a humbling and fascinating experience. I had to really stop myself from trying to console people and letting that raw emotion flow for the camera.

I’ve seen it on film sets. I’ve cried watching actors’ emotions come flooding out during a scene. I’ll never forget shooting Penelope Cruz and Rhys Ifans in the Isle of Man (very glamorous!!!). They knocked the whole crew’s socks off. Watching real professionals like that batting words at each other, it’s like witnessing top violinists playing a duet. It’s poetry in motion, cheesy but true.

I think because we were planning this as a test shoot and we weren’t sure how the Barlow clan would react, Andy’s and my expectations were pretty low. We planned to get lots of B Roll and background filler, perhaps one or two interviews, particularly with his Nana. But in the end, they were almost lining up to talk. It was truly an incredible experience. As it was Easter weekend, with its religious significance and because it’s a time when family come together, we just hit a sweet spot or something. But everyone opened up to the camera and blew us away with their honesty.

What a beautiful camera we hired for the shoot. Thanks to the guys at Video Australasia and to Hamish, Campbell Knott and Jeremy Boxer for all their advice. The Sony EX1 records High Def footage straight onto PC cards or a hard drive. This allows you to download the footage direct to your computer. If you have a MacBook Pro, the card slots right into the express slot and away you go at around 8 x real time.

Though of course it wasn’t that simple. We had a variety of technical hitches but luckily Andy has a techno brain, so he did battle and mostly won.

The footage looks beautiful. I can’t wait to go over it all and plan our next shoot. It’s dependent on various schedules but hopefully we might even get in some more shoot days before Cannes in May. It’s gutting that BALIBO didn’t get into the final selection. They’d got such a great reaction from one of the programmers, but there are some strong Aussie films this year.
I know that Rob Connelly, BALIBO’s talented Director, is still fine tuning the film. I can’t wait to see it. Though I haven’t been involved at all, Andy is an Exec Producer and feels very connected to the people and the project after spending time on set and getting his film hands dirty. It sounds like the East Timor section of the shoot was incredible and changed the lives of many people involved.

Check out this link to see Rob talking about it and a few sneak peaks.

Working on a film set is an experience that’s hard to describe to people who have never been near one. If you ever do visit, it seems like nothing is happening and then there are short bursts of intense activity when you ‘turn over’. But if you’re working on one, you know that every minute of every day the crew is trying to align all the moveable parts, all the myriad elements such as light, wardrobe, actors, design, props, make up etc. etc. etc. With crews that can surpass 100 people, it takes time to get each section in place and move forward as a team.

But on a good set, it fast becomes like a family. You form such intense friendships and it’s like you’re in a world all of your own. A bubble. That noone can touch or understand. It’s a crazy life, as sometimes it can be hard to get back to your ‘real life’ after each film. I’m not sure how healthy it all is, but if the elements are right (and filmmaking is true alchemy) it can be an incredibly enriching experience. Or it can be a nightmare!

Anyway, I’m up in Sydney at the moment and have lots to write about that but must save it for the next instalment. I’m heading to the ASTRA Awards with the wonderful Tony Barber. Pity I can’t wear my killer heels, but I’ve got a great frock and am getting myself all glammed up. The dress code is ‘sophisticated’ so I’m interested to see what the Sydney world of television comes up with. Will be a bit different from the BIFAs and the BAFTAs I’m sure. More soon.