On the continuing irrelevance of our National Cinema

Well, at great personal pain I am 50 minutes in to Mental starring Toni Collette and directed by PJ Hogan.

Being the regular font of wisdom on Australian Cinema (and it’s ills) that I am, I think I’ve divined what is going on here.

In the 90′s and much of the 00′s the funding bodies made these awful art movies on worthy topics (mental illness, asylum seekers, Aborigines, health, women’s issues, etc) that no one saw (or wanted to see). In the late 00′s there was a change of tactic due to an on going irrelevance of the National Cinema (due to these cinematic abortions) toward a more commercial and genre driven type of cinema. A good move in theory. But guess what? Instead of good genre films, based on exciting, edgy and original topics or ideas, etc., back came all the tired social causes (mental illness, asylum seekers, Aborigines, health, women’s issues) to further and condescendingly pollute our National Screen and bore a whole new generation of local cinema goers. The funding bodies would then attempt to make quirky comedies and feel good dramas about these ‘worthy’ social issues with equally, if not even MORE disastrous results. We are seeing the proof of this on our screens on a now monthly basis down under. See Save Your Legs and Goddess for further proof of this. Or the aforementioned Mental, Not Suitable for Children, Lore and many others from last year.

 

So, that’s where we are at the moment in mainstream Australian Cinema.

Thoughts?

Addendum: I finished watching Mental and apropos it’s ‘worthy’ cause of Mental Health issues – I have never seen a more insulting and absurd movie about the issue in my life. So, these films are even failing as ideological engines of social responsibility. Is it not long overdue that we had some kind of National Forum on Cinema with the funding bodies to address these and other issues? We can’t allow Australian Cinema to so languish in the doldrums and for funding to be so wasted without responsibility or accountability.

The MUFF 14 Call for Entries

The MUFF 14: Call for Entries-

The 14^th Melbourne Underground Film Festival

 

Revolutionary Cinema From Underground – we want you!

 

I am writing this MUFF Call For Entries in Havana, Cuba. So pardon the revolutionary rhetoric may have invaded this text.

 

We are collectively calling all Independent and Guerilla cinema comrades, insurgents and radicals. The Second Australian Cinema Renaissance is underway and we want you!

 

Our annual search for Australia and The World’s best, wildest and greatest Indy and underground cinema has begun, again.

 

The 14^th Melbourne Underground Film Festival is now Calling for Entries. We don’t want dull mediocre cinema that sits well with the status quo at the mainstream festivals and events. We want the transgressive, progressive, transcendental, mad and aggressive stuff. We don’t care if your film is shot on the latest Red Camera or an old PD150 (…good enough for David Lynch!) as long as it has passion, guts and something to say.

 

To paraphrase D.H Lawrence if you don’t have something to say – stay QUIET – but when you DO say it Hot. We want the ‘hot’ stuff basically. We look for passion, spirit, inventiveness, originality and innovation – on a low budget. This simple process of recognizing talent has meant MUFF has discovered much of the most interesting cinematic talent to come out of OZ the last 15 odd years or so.

 

MUFF 14 will be a big year for our festival. We have lovely and controversial revolutionary plans to hatch and we want you ALL to be apart of it. We have been and are critical of the local film industry status quo but like Castro feel (cinema) History will absolve us.

 

Get your entry form here:

 

Our deadline is Friday June 28. A little earlier so we can get the MUFF catalog out prompter and all that. The actual festival dates for MUFF 14 are here: Friday Sept 13 to Saturday September 21.

 

More details are at our website: www.muff.com.au.

Place your entry at Withoutabox from late January: https://www.withoutabox.com/

Get to it Cinema Revolutionaries from Underground!

 

Richard Wolstencroft,

Place De Revolucionations

Havana, Cuba

January 13, 2013

New York City Underground Cinema Screenings – presented by MUFF

Ontological Pictures New York Cinema ‘Happening’ – The Second Coming preview and F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned.

Two new films by Richard Wolstencroft.

Screening this Sunday December 30 in New York City! The Second Coming section one (starring Michael Tierney and shot in Thailand) and two (work in progress with Gene Gregorits) and The Beautiful and Damned starring Kristen Condon, Ross Ditcham, Peter Christopherson (Coil, TG), Norman Yemm, Alex Spalck (Pankow), Paul Moder, Zen Ledden and John Brumpton.

An Ontological Pictures ‘happening’ in NYC presented in association with the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.

This is the address: L’asso East Village 107 1st ave between 6th and 7th. 8pm – start time.

10$ donation entry or free if your broke.

Starring Gene Gregorits in The Second Coming section 2 – who will be there in person and doing some readings from his book Dog Days and other recent published work.

An excellent and somewhat impromptu underground cinema event. Invite your friends!

The Last Days of Joe Blow – New Trailer

The Last Days of Joe Blow Trailer on Vimeo.

We have had to cut it a bit to meet their silly sexuality guidelines.

Trust me the feature is much juicier.

It is at the AFM right now, folks, with the Producer Jason Byrne. So if you’re from a fest playing next year and want to see it – drop Jason a line and meet up/make contact. etc.

Otherwise sit back and enjoy the trailer. http://vimeo.com/52599100

Rough credits:

Director/C0-Producer-Richard Richard Wolstencroft, Producer-Jason Byrne, Co-Producer-Tait Brady, Associate Producer/Editor-Mark Bakaitis. Camera-Mark Mark Savage & Richard Wolstencroft, Music-David Thrussell, Damian Whitty and others. Featuring Michael Tierney as Joe Blow. Also featuring William Margold, Ron Jeremy, Eric John, Missy Woods, Charlie Chase, Jeremy Steele and many others. Special guest commentators Bruce LaBruce and Andrew Richardson.

A few stills below. A couple with raunch.

The 20th Anniversary of The Hellfire Club – First News

Excellent Halloween News marking a Special Event:

The 20th Anniversary of The Hellfire Club will take place Sunday December 16 at:

The LuWow Tiki Bar and Nightclub
62/70 Johnston St., Fitzroy.

You heard it here first!

Stand by for fliers, ads, event details, giveaways, performers, DJ’s, merchandise, old cards and posters on Sale and all other kinds of Hellfire related mayhem, madness and kinkiness.

My Hellfire Club – back in the last month of 2012.

The image of the first Hellfire Card (below) that I will mostly likely re-use for the 20th Anniversary.

Jeff Sparrow author of Money Shot and his talk at MFU reviewied and caricatured.

I attended a lecture on the subject of censorship, pornography and free speech at Melbourne Free University (a tiny gallery space in Lygon Street) whose speaker was author Jeff Sparrow, author of Money Shot.

To provide some background: I was banned from MFU three months back for talking on the exactly same topic – due to what they perceived as my political indiscretions that they either wished to silence, side line or shun. Even though I never would have really touched on that topic, of course.This was a rather perverse irony as it was all about free speech (supposedly!) but here were the advocates censoring what THEY didn’t understand. The average leftist liberal is all about diversity and difference on the surface – unless of course you really are diverse or different – then you are a persona non grata. I didn’t raise the banning of me from MFU as I am polite.

Also the entire audience was Anglo Saxon or European apart from ONE half Asian chap. I’m sure there are many Far Right meetings more ethnically diverse. Doubly Hilarious!

Author Jeff Sparrow from Money Shot I had met before. He had asked me for an extended interview 2 years ago on LA Zombie – which I happily and graciously gave him over a long friendly lunch. I thought we had got along fine – but Sparrow hid his thoughts. As a limp wristed Marxist wannabe he objected  (like MFU) to something I had said somewhere in internet land and decided to caricature me a bit in his recently published book Money Shot – on porn and censorship.

Which is fine – I find that kind of thing funny from a perspective of ideology, etc.

But allow me to return the favour a little: Sparrow is a fey, glib, myopic and innocuous twit in a RRR T Shirt and knows little about the topic on which he speaks. He reduces censorship and the whole debate to an under graduate reflection on dialectical materialism – which is how the not so sly devil slips his outdated Marxist crap in to his rather constructed and biased narrative. He was ungracious – not acknowledging me after being in a chapter of his book. He was not generous when I asked politely if I could have a copy of his book – he was selling them there as a chapter was on me – he said no, rather rudely blaming his publisher. I am well aware from many books readings and appearances that a simple word from him would secure a copy for someone featured in the book.etc

When I questioned the poverty of his method of approach – in the question time – relying mainly on the issues of commodification and materialism and ignoring the whole ontological, Libertarian, Libertine and hedonistic aspects of the debate – he stone walled. Other questions were absurd: one women felt ‘pursued by porn’ I wanted to ask her did it chase her down the street or around her apartment? This kind of attitude reveals a repressed desire to indulge in pornographic Libertinage and hedonism. Other questions concerned the ban of porn in Aboriginal settlements in the NT – which is plain patriarchal racism. But as it was implemented or maintained by Labour there was much pussy footing around that issue. When I pointed out that his own left liberal views, as he admitted!, are the views of the current censor regime – making him the the defacto enemy he is supposedly criticizing and investigating – he was gob smacked and moved on quickly.

Again not even willing to engage in any kind of real debate or discussion. This is what he is like and what goes on at these type of events. Nothing is said – everything is omitted. It’s self censorship – of the very worst kind – and an act of cowardice.

Which If I had to caricature Sparrow – that is how I would do so – as a coward. Touche to you Jeff.

And, also allow me to add: fuck you pal for being such a rude, inconsiderate and unappreciative journo pretender.

The 13th MUFF Award Winners

The 13^th Melbourne Underground Film Festival – Awards

Jury Head – Gene Gregorits

Shorts Jury Head – David Leadbetter

The Winners:

Best Film – Charlie Casanova (Director Terry McMahon)

Best Director – Terry McMahon (Charlie Casanova)

Best Actor (tie) – Emmet Scanlan (Charlie Casanova)

John Jarrat ( Shiver)

Best Actress – Allira Jaques (Daddy’s Little Girl)

Special Jury Prize (tie) – Daddy’s Little Girl

Johnny Ghost

Best Documentary – Donkey Love

Best Guerilla Film – Wakey wakey

Best Supporting Actress – Fabiana Weiner (Wakey Wakey)

Best Supporting Actor – Tom V (Dace Decklan)

Best Cinematography – Brendan Krotz ( Wakey Wakey)

Best Screenplay – Donna MacRae (Johnny Ghost)

Best SFX- Daddy’s Little Girl

Special jury Prize for Innovation and Audaciousness – Kim Fowley – Golden Road to Nowhere/ Black Room Doom

Best Short Film – Body Movie – Director: Jordan Prosser

Best Short Film (Runner up) – Real Meal Deal – Director: Stuart Mannion

Best Actor in a Short: Dying & Other Superpowers – Director: Elias Ribeiro, actor: Tom Stanley (Josh)

Best Actress in a Short: Evie Wants a Baby – Director: Jemma Van Loenen, actor: Carissa McAllen (Evie)

Pictured below Jury Head Gene Gregorits (with drink in hand)

MUFF 13 – Opening and Closing Nights

Opening and Closing Night

Curated by RW.

Film notes by Michael Helms

OPENING NIGHT: August 24 8pm, Revolt, 12 Elizabeth Street  Kensington Victoria 3031

(03) 9376 2115

CHARLIE CASANOVA (2010)

Writer/producer/director: Terry McMahon

Cast: Emmett Scanlan, Leigh Arnold, Damien Hannaway, Thomas Farrell

The titular moustache-wearing character of CHARLIE CASANOVA is played with manic dexterity by one Emmett Scanlan who calmly (about the only time during the films running time that he does something in such a way) introduces us to Charlie with voice-over narration before the opening credits noting that, “If there is a God this may be my last will and testament”. This nicely sets the claustrophobic and doom-laden tone for the rest of the film as Charlie’s world loudly implodes. Holed up in a hotel during the course of some sort of conference Charlie is accompanied by his wife and another couple that includes his best friend, and a sycophantic male who seems to physically morph into Charlie by the end of the film. Charlie is a wealthy & successful businessman with a predilection for drink, drugs (especially Viagra) and stand-up comedy. The latter he seems to be in a constant of rehearsal for as every few minutes scenes spiral into another jackhammer rant from Charlie examining or pontificating mainly on the subject of the working classes and their use to him and his plans for world domination. Worse, Charlie’s 160-plus IQ has led him to believe that the only fair and truthful way to move forward is to subject every major (and minor) life decision to the flip of a playing card. At least this offers the opportunity for the appearance of an interventionist god he reasons.

By turns funny, sad, insulting, funny again, and ultimately downbeat and non-redemptive for it’s main protagonist no matter what he tries, CHARLIE CASANOVA is a powerful debut from Irishman Terry McMahon. While obviously conceived as an intellectual response to how the global financial crisis of 2008 affected Ireland politics CHARLIE CASANOVA speaks in a universal voice that should surprise and please all forms of film freakers.

CLOSING NIGHT: SEpt 1st 8pm, Revolt, 12 Elizabeth Street  Kensington Victoria 3031

(03) 9376 2115

DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL (2012)

Writer/producer/director: Chris Sun

Cast: Billi Baker, Michael Thomson, Allira Jaques, Christian Radford

Chris Sun, the bad boy filmmaker from Queensland’s “Sunny” Coast, is back with what amounts to his best work yet. Although far removed from the technical primitivism of his debut COME & GET ME (MUFF #12), DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL does continue Sun’s obsession with personal violence and completely upgrades it’s presentation with extra effort from his usual band of Buderim buddies along with a few new pals on both sides of the camera, and also most importantly, expert assistance from Australia’s pre-eminent make-up FX artist Steve Boyle (DAYBREAKERS, BAIT 3D).

DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL trots out the story of Derek, young parent to Georgia who we soon learn is about to turn six. Constantly shuttled between Derek & his ex: Stacey, Georgia seems impervious to the constant bickering of Derek & Stacey and definitely possessing the ability to survive & thrive despite her parents. A tragedy of the highest order ensues for Derek and six months later after an hour of character development we find Derek at a self-help meeting for people who have lost close family members to murder that has often occurred with extreme violence. When a pretty fellow group member affirms Derek’s question of whether revenge should be visited on perpetrators of such crimes something clicks in his own brain and the last hour is spent with Derek as he meticulously and torturously exacts his own vengeance on the (surprise) killer of DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL. At least Derek doesn’t fail to dispense more than a few funny one-liners amidst the grim and relentless proceedings. Sort of a TV movie of the week on steroids DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL is also like a feature-length version of the worst segment of Today Tonight featuring bogans behaving badly and putting them in your face in such a way that Imax & 3D couldn’t possibly replicate or enhance.

The MUFF 13 Theme is : Mavericks

Two Pictures:

Crispin Glover (updated) new deisgn ad for Melbourne shows and tour.

Check it and please share. Explains the Big Slide Show and feature format better.