Thursday, October 20, 2011

Big Four weeks on Port Fairy Film Society Calender …a great celebration of films and community in one small town!!


Film lovers will have a treat for the next four plus weeks in Port 
Fairy. It certainly is looking to be one of the busiest times for the 
committee commencing with the Annual General Meeting in the presence 
of some of its 230 members just prior to the monthly screening this 
Friday October 21st at 7:30pm.

This months film is titled “Of Gods and Men” a standout film at last 
years Cannes Festival and winner of the Grand Jury (Second) prize by 
acclaimed director Xavier Beauvios. Inspired by real events, this 
opens on the monastery perched in the mountains of Algeria where 
eight French trappist monks live in harmony with their Muslim 
brothers. They provide medical care and support to their community.  
When a crew of foreign workers is massacred by an Islamist 
fundamentalist group, fear sweeps the region. The army offers 
protection, and after difficult personal and collective decisions the 
monks decide to remain, despite the impending danger and violence 
beyond the monastery. David Stratton of “At the Movies fame, 
described Of Gods and Men as “The best film screened at Cannes”, and 
as “outstanding” and, “a serene, contemplative work”. He went on to 
give it four and half stars.


  Following close behind on Tuesday October 25th the Movie Classics 
brings the great Marx brothers hilarious double ‘Duck Soup” and “A 
Night at the Opera” screening from 1:30pm.


  Friday October 28th is the next date for the eagerly awaited Port 
Fairy Short Film Showcase, where local film makers will get the 
opportunity to show their short films to an appreciative audience. 
The showcase will also coincide with  “Framed “ the Independent film 
making forum, brought to Port Fairy via ABC Open, where independent 
films and film making will be open for discussion and the audience 
will meet and hear film makers and those involved in the industry. 
This night is a free event and commences at 7pm.


At 1.30pm on Sunday 30 October, the Port Fairy Consolidated School
have a dress up screening of the classic “Ghostbusters”.
Great fun for the whole family!

At 7.30pm on Friday November 11th, the Film 
Society hosts the Tarerer Film Festival with two indigenous films 
produced by David Jowsey. The Tarerer festival curator Wal Saunders 
has chosen pre-release “Toomelah” and “Mad Bastards” for a two film festival
around the theme of  youth. They screen at the Reardon Theatre from 7:30pm.








Thursday, October 6, 2011

Framed at Port Fairy: Independent Filmmaking Forum


Presented by Open Channel in collaboration with ABC Open
Supported by Film Victoria

To coincide with the Port Fairy Film Society's Short Film Showcase, Open Channel
presents Framed at Port Fairy: Independent Filmmaking Forum.


Friday October 28, 7.00pm - Reardon Theatre - Bank Street, Port Fairy FREE

A night of independent short films and discussion, with films by local filmmakers and ABC Open contributors plus a panel discussion and feedback session with documentary writer/director William Head (Night Fare, We Are Illuminated) film/TV producer Angela Lee (Hard Rubbish, With Tim Ferguson) and ABC Open Producer Colleen Hughson in conversation with Open Channel's Alex Castro.

The night offers fantastic networking opportunities for local filmmakers and opportunities to ask the panellists questions about creating and marketing their own films.

If you would like to submit a film for the Short Film Showcase you can down load a submission form here.
http://freepdfhosting.com/f1e4eed456.pdf

Presenters: William Head, Angela Lee, Colleen Hughson

Portland-raised William Head graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2009 where his graduate film, Night Fare received a number of awards and was selected for the prestigious Australian International Documentary Conference in 2010. His most recent film, We Are Illuminated received production support through the Screen Australia/Open Channel Raw Nerve program and has been selected for festivals in Russia, Mexico and the inaugural Antenna Documentary Film Festival in Sydney. In 2011 he co-founded the monthly non-fiction screening program and online Mubi channel, 'Don't You Have Docs?'. He was selected for the Film Victoria supported Crossover program which brought together teams of filmmakers and computer developers, and this has led to his involvement in an international co-production project with Renegade Films (Rockwiz, Wilfred), BBC Scotland and RTE.

Angela Lee undertook an Open Channel short course in Production and Production Management in 2009 before taking on the role of Line Producer for the Raw Nerve program overseeing four overlapping short film productions. In 2010 she was a script assessor for the Short & Sharp Pitching Competition, Producer of Raw Nerve short film Hard Rubbish, which was selected in the top 10% of TropFest entries from an international pool of more than 700. In that same year she was the Producer of the hit television show With Tim Ferguson, which aired on C31 to a weekly audience of more than 40,000. She has recently completed production on a new Raw Nerve film Phone Call, written and directed by Daniel and Jared Draperis, starring Lewis Fitz-Gerald (Crownies, The Flying Doctors, Breaker Morant) and Mark Leonard Winter (Winners & Losers, Balibo, Blame).

ABC Open Producer Colleen Hughson was born and bred in Warrnambool. A documentary maker, she has extensive experience in filmmaking and digital storytelling both as a practitioner and as a co-coordinator and facilitator for community groups and schools. Some of her award winning work includes All The Ladies, a documentary on women in Hip Hop, Chicks with Decks Skateboard Documentary and A.K.A.Girl Skater, covering the first all-girl/women skateboarding tour.

Framed at Port Fairy is part of Open Channel's Framed: Screen Industry Seminar Series. Framed is supported by Film Victoria.


ABC OPEN South West Victoria                        OPEN CHANNEL

Oranges and Sunshine



As a Fundraiser for the Relay For Life, the Warrnambool Buddhists group screens Oranges and Sunshine at the Reardon Theatre Port Fairy at 1.30 and 7.30pm Friday 7 October. Rated M 104 mins Admission $12

Oranges and Sunshine tells the story of Margaret Humphreys (Emily Watson), a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovered one of the most significant social scandals of recent times; the mass deportation of130,000 children from the United Kingdom to Australia and Canada, 7000 to Australia from 1940 to 1967. Single-handedly and against overwhelming odds, Margaret reunited thousands of families and drew worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice. Children as young as four had been told that their parents were dead.

When Harold Haig was 10 years old, a man in a suit came to visit. "He said to me, 'Would you like to go to this wonderful place called Australia where the sun shines all day every day and you pick oranges off the trees, live in a little white cottage by the sea and ride a horse to school?'" remembers Haig, who is 73 but looks younger, with Pete Postlethwaite cheekbones and flowing white hair. "While I was letting this sink in, he added, 'Well, you know you're an orphan, your parents are dead, you've got no family, you might as well go.'" Haig was one of the children from British care homes .

"What Margaret did for me and for thousands of child migrants is to give us back our lives, give us back our identity, and shine a light in where there was just darkness." Where would he be without Humphreys? "I have my doubts about whether I'd be here alive," he says. "You should ask, where would all of us be?"

“Jim Loach's debut is a powerful, deeply moving, understated account of a major social injustice that went unreported for many years and only this past year received an official apology from the two governments involved, those of Great Britain and Australia”(2009). Phillip French, The Guardian

“But the film, like Humphreys herself, is not an attempt at recrimination; it shows how a single individual can bring about enormous change and make a difference, where perhaps organisations, Governments, political parties and other groupings are impotent.”

“Oranges and Sunshine is a triumph of storytelling on screen and puts us through the emotional wringer - as it should.” Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile
  
“There are beautiful performances here from every member of the cast, and it's much to Loach's credit that he handles this potentially sensational material with such restraint. Above all, many scenes are incredibly moving.”, David Stratton: At the Movies, ABC Margaret and David: 4 Stars