Wasted on the Young

Coming out firing with more style than substance, Australian Ben C. Lucas‘ feature film directing/writing debut, Wasted on the Young is a slick and fast-paced high school drama. Tackling meaty themes of bullying, violence and the role of the bystander with flashy visuals and a thumping soundtrack, this is a film that shows promise but is ultimately unsatisfying.

Set around an exclusive high school where the swimming jocks dictate the social hierarchy, the film follows the fall-out from a party held by leader of the pack, 17-year old Zack (newcomer Alex Russell). Awash with A-class drugs the party sees the pretty and sweet Xandrie (Adelaide Clemens, X-men Origins: Wolverine) roofied, gang-raped and left for dead. Darren (Oliver Ackland, The Proposition) who is at the opposite end of the social spectrum to his popular stepbrother Zack, is determined to find out the truth about what happened to Xandrie and who was involved.

In this teenage world dominated by social media and devoid of any adult role-models, rumours about Xandrie spread like wildfire through the school, with the techno-savvy students debating the events of the party on facebook. But despite the control Zack exercises over his peers he is threatened by the quiet Darren, and as he tries to maintain his grip on power the atmosphere at school threatens to topple over into violence.

Zack (Alex Russell)

Lucas has spoken in interviews about wanting to make the film more thematic than realistic, and he has been somewhat successful in creating a morality play of sorts. The central idea of the film is that if you allow bad things to happen to people, without protesting, you too are culpable. The responsibility of the bystander is definitely interesting to investigate and the film’s initial set-up is very intriguing, but unfortunately all too quickly the story sinks into a revenge fantasy, which as the film progresses becomes increasingly preposterous and frustratingly squanders the potential of the film’s premise.

Ella (Geraldine Harkwill) and Xandrie (Adelaide Clemens)

Unfortunately for a film about high school dynamics, few of the cast look young enough to be 17 or 18 year olds. Adelaide Clemens is most certainly the shining light in this film. As Xandrie she embodies the ultimate high-school sweetheart. Good-looking and bubbly, she isn’t concerned with popularity and goes to Zack’s fateful party in order to see the shy and passive Darren. Clemens’ has a face for film, and is quickly able to influence the mood of each scene she is in.

Bret Easton Ellis-lite this new Australian film has been designed to appeal to an under-30s audience with Lucas seemingly using every visual trick in the book to try and make this film exciting. And it is aesthetically where Wasted on the Young is the most interesting and inventive, sadly the plot falls short of its director’s aspirations, and given his obvious filmic talents this is all the more disappointing.

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First published on Trespass

Talking Genre Politics with Patrick Hughes

Red Hill marks Australian filmmaker Patrick Hughes feature film directorial and writing debut. Red Hill, a modern Australian Western, had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. The film’s action unfolds over one day and night in a small town in Victoria. Ryan Kwanten stars as Shane Cooper, a city cop who has just relocated to the country town of Red Hill. Cooper’s first day turns into a nightmare when convicted murderer Jimmy Conway (Tom E. Lewis) escapes from prison and returns to town seeking revenge against the lawmen who imprisoned him, including Old Bill (Steve Bisley).

Beth Wilson caught up with Hughes on the publicity trail to find out more about his transition from short films and commercials to feature films, the inspiration for the film and to talk about the dirty word ‘genre’…

Red Hill has been called a Western and a return to the heyday of Australia’s 70s and 80s genre films, how would you describe your film and its film genre?

I like to call it a neo-Western. It’s a modern take on old themes. Certainly I was inspired by the landscapes and the town we shot the film in, I found something that was really tragic about the story of a town, a boomtown that has gone bust. It is an old town that has lost its way in a modern world and it’s fighting for its survival, and it is fighting for a position and a sense of identity. You look at a town like Omeo (where Red Hill was filmed) it used to have 40,000 people, in 1890 it was Australia’s biggest gold rush town, Now there are 120 and all those industries have shut down. What happens to all those people left? How far will they go to save their town? I found that was a really interesting starting point in terms of creating a modern-day Western.

So the story started with that town?

I was fortunate enough to do some Brumby chasing when I was younger with a character that lived up in that town named Ken Connelly, and I remember riding back through the main street of Omeo, and I literally felt I was in a living breathing Western. I remember riding on horseback and you’d pass the town hall, barbershop and rickety old shopfronts and then a Toyota Landcrusier drives past and no one flinches because it is the kind of town where there still is that mix of horses and cars. It felt like you were in a lost world, felt like you were walking through a museum.

I am a huge fan of what every western is, which is a moral code. Red Hill is an exploration of revenge, redemption and sacrifice, and then you look at the history of our country. I grew up watching all these Westerns and if you look at the colonialisation of America, and the white man moving in pushing the American Indians out and the terrible atrocities that happened, the parallels to our country are striking. Exactly the same thing happened here when the white man moved in and pushed the Indigenous people off their own land. I felt like if anyone is due for a story of revenge it would be the Indigenous people of Australia.

You have had a career making commercials and highly successful shorts, how did you find the transition to your first feature film, where you had a budget that was less than you’ve had previously for commercials?

Every time I’m on set I’m learning. I think commercials are a really great training ground to learn the physicalities of how a set operates. Knowing how fast you can move, and I like to shot fast and move fast, obviously with Red Hill we had four weeks to shoot the movie; some people would go “you’re nuts, you’re crazy” but I knew in the back of my mind that we had a real chance of pulling this off. What commercials have allowed me to do is bring in an incredibly gifted crew. These guys are some of the best people in the industry, they’ve worked on some of the biggest films, you know all the Hollywood blockbusters they shoot out here.

We ended up with a situation where if we could just get a really great cast and a really great team of crew and just get them into the high country, in this one town for four weeks, we could pull off a movie, and that was kind of how I did it.

How did you go about casting?

It is tricky as an independent filmmaker because you don’t have a studio behind you or any major resources, so I’d written the script, but I had to raise the money before I could approach the actors, because you don’t want to waste their time. You want to give them a cemented date. Once I’d written the script I then raised the money privately and once we had, that first port of call was casting the three leads.

Steve Bisley was my first choice and I got the script in front of him and we immediately hit it off. Then Tom E. Lewis, I was really terrified about sending him the material, because you know the assumptions people make about who the bad guy is. You know you’ve got a disfigured Indigenous person wielding a sawn-off shotgun and sweeping through a small country town, it is pretty confronting material. So before I gave Tom E. the script I said please don’t throw this in the bin at page 50 because you won’t know the full story, don’t make any assumptions. God bless him he didn’t and he called me the next morning. And Ryan [Kwanten] of course, I was looking for an actor who had a strong physical presence but also had a vulnerability, because essentially the film is the story of a city boy who needs to become a cowboy. Once I’d cast those three leads I knew I had a real movie. I’ve got two iconic legends of Australian cinema, Steve Bisley and Tom E. Lewis, obviously Ryan Kwanten is just a raw talent, he literally walked off the second series of True Blood and onto our set.

Because it was independently funded did that mean it felt like you had more creative control?

I mean the only reason you make your first movie is so someone lets you make another one. I know that I’ll look back in 20 years and say the most fun I probably ever had making a movie was shootingRed Hill, because we literally made it outside of the system. No one even knew we were up there shooting it, it felt like we were in this little bubble. It was a really surreal experience when you are standing on set at 3 am setting fire to a house, or doing all the crazy stuff we did with the car chases and shoot outs and we felt we had the whole town behind us and there was a real kind of team spirit up there.

There has been a lot of talk in Australian film circles that Australia needs more genre films, which you have provided. But are you worried at all that Australian audiences are notoriously bad at watching Australian films?

Yeah, but I think if we consistently keep on making better films then we’ll probably win them back. I don’t know if one film is going to turn it all around, I don’t think it is that simple. It does feel like maybe we lost our way for a while, we lost our audience for a while we certainly did that. How do we win them back? I think if we start making films of all different types of genres. That is really important too, not to just keep making the same kind of films.

Everyone walks around saying genre is a dirty word. I think it is ridiculous, because I think if you look at every kitchen sink drama, they are a genre to themselves, they all hit the same marks every time. If it is the fish out of water, the story of someone who has come back to bury their father in a small country town- I’ve seen that a million times. Name me one film that isn’t a genre movie.

But it is a term that holds connotations…

I think what people apply it to is making commercial films. I made this film because it is really something I’d like to see, I hope it transpires to box office figures. I think if filmmakers keep questioning who’s the audience for this film, then slowly piece by piece we might just win that audience back. I think there is a lot of distrust out there. The marketing can push it so far but to get that real pop you need to get the word of mouth and the buzz from people on the street. More than anything I’ll respect what my friend says “hey man you’ve got to go check out this movie”, at the end of the day that is what it comes down to.

That’s what we want more Aussies watching Aussie films

And if they don’t go and see it I’ll cut loose with a sawn-off shotgun. I’m serious I’ve got my gun licence. (he’s NOT serious)

Images provided courtesy of Sony Pictures Au

First Published on Trespass 18/11/2010

Tomorrow When the War Began

John Marsden’s Tomorrow series has been a staple of high school English in Australia for years now. Yet it has taken quite a long time for such a popular (and obvious money spinner) to be adapted to the screen; making his directorial debut with the first book in the series Stuart Beattie, a successful Australian screenwriter, of this young adult adventure story. Beattie, who also wrote Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Collateral and Australia, managed to convince Marsden to let him make a film of his beloved book, a proposal the author has been turning down for years. With a cast of young fresh-faced, but largely inexperienced film actors, and an untested director – has Tomorrow When the War Began successfully transferred from page to screen?

For the large part, yes – the film succeeds thanks to the enthusiasm and youthful optimism of its cast and crew. TWTWB is by no means a masterpiece, but it is hugely likeable – this is coming from someone who was not relishing the prospect, having disliked the book. The cast of young Australian and British actors and the simple storytelling combine to make a good action film, a genre not common to Australian cinema at the moment.

TWTWB sees seven high school friends, who live in a small country town, take a trip to a remote camping spot call ‘Hell’ during school holidays, only to find when they return that the country has been invaded by a foreign force that wants their share of Australia’s natural resources. Forced into action, the group start their transformation into resistance fighters.

Leading the friends is 17 year old farm girl Ellie (Neighbours alumni Caitlin Stasey), who along with fun best friend Corrie (Rachel Hurd-Wood, Peter Pan) has handpicked a group of friends to go away with. Included in the mix is Corrie’s sporty boyfriend Kevin (ex- Home and Away-er Lincoln Lewis), Ellie’s love interest Lee (Chris Pang, Home Song Stories), the school’s beauty queen Fiona (Phoebe Tonkin), Ellie’s bad boy neighbour Homer (Deniz Akdeniz) and the religious Robyn (Ashleigh Cummings). This core cast do a great job of being realistic teenagers – a rare thing for young adult films. There are a few weak links, but you can only hope with experience they’ll rise to the standards of their cast-mates (or get killed off as the series progresses – I never got past the first book). Particularly strong is the youngest cast member, Cummings, who tackles the moral compass character of Robyn and Stasey whose portrayal of the determined Ellie is a strong anchor for the film. Andrew Ryan (The Jesters) brings some comedic relief to the film with his stoner performance of Chris, who joins the group during the film.

While there is the obvious cringing reference to the first settlers’ invasion of Australia and the odd scripting slip-up, Beattie’s debut is for the most part impressive. His experience on big budget projects has definitely brought with it the skills to finesse action sequences. Not outrageous or ostentatious the films fight sequences and gun-play is handled in a way that suits the setting of country town war zone. It is rare to see an Australian made film with such a large budget (a reported $25 million) and it is nice to see it hasn’t been wasted.

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First published on Onya

The Waiting City

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The Waiting City follows childless Aussie couple, Fiona (Radha Mitchell, Rogue) and Ben (Joel Edgerton, Animal Kingdom) as they arrive in Kolkata to pick up their adopted daughter, Lakshmi. After 2 years of processing they discover, once in India, that additional bureaucracy means there is further delay to them becoming parents. It is this additional waiting that concerns the film.

The Waiting City is the first Australian feature to be shot entirely in India, allowing the film to examines the couple’s marriage in a foreign setting. By incorporating the mythical/spiritual elements of the film’s setting with the intensely intimate drama of the relationship this film captures the highs and lows of the couple’s journey with delicate honesty and emotional openness.

From the very outset of the film, when hard-working, tightly-wound lawyer Fiona and laid-back, muso Ben arrive in Kolkata Airport, you know that there is trouble in paradise. Organised Fiona takes it on herself to do everything and go-with-the-flow Ben abdicates responsibility to her, both are resentful of the roles they have drawn. They are picked up from the airport by affable hotel employee, Krishna (Samrat Chakrabarati, She Hates Me) who becomes the couple’s part-time tour guide. When their adoption plans don’t run smoothly the cracks in Fiona and Ben’s marriage begin to appear, aided by the appearance of beautiful, hippy musician Scarlett (Isabel Lucas, Daybreakers) and Fiona’s work commitments back in Australia.

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Creating a wondrous sense of place, it is clichéd to say but, The Waiting City really does make a character of Kolkata. Viewed through the eyes of a tourist the city’s vibrant colours, sites and religious processions draw you into the film and help you to fall in love with India. The film does come close at time to over-romanticising the country, presenting an idealised spiritual culture, but Sydneysider writer/director Claire McCarthy (Cross Life) maintains the reins on the film so that the mysticism compliments the drama of the script.

The success of the film’s story and location is in no small part down to McCarthy’s familiarity with India and its orphanages. McCarthy documented her time working at Mother Teresa Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata with her younger sister Helena, in her 2008 film project, Sisters. It is from this time you image she met the templates for the characters in her film, like the serene Sister Tessila (Tilotamma Shome, Monsoon Wedding).

McCarthy and her team have taken the hot topic of inter-country adoption, which see the movement of children from developing to developed countries and have eased out the issues without heavy-handedness. The character of Krishna is used to express concern over this issue, as well as to widen the debate around notions of motherhood. This is a film that has a huge amount of compassion for its characters and even though it probes the couple’s relationship to find its cracks, it is also concerned with how these are mended. Mitchell and Edgerton bring such vulnerability to their characters, giving them a real depth that makes you completely invested in their emotional journey.

This is a film that takes its protagonists on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, mixing love, frustration, pain and joy. With its superb scripting, beautiful visuals and excellent performances, The Waiting City is one glorious ride I would be more than happy to take again.

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First published at Trespass

Love, Lust & Lies

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Australian Filmmaker, Gillian Armstrong is well-known for her strong, independent female protagonists (My Brilliant Career, Oscar and Lucinda), but her interest in the female experience extends beyond her feature films. Since 1975, Armstrong has been making a documentary series, following three Adelaide women; Diana, Josie and Kerry. First meeting the friends as fearless 14 yr olds at a community centre, Armstrong has documented their lives in five films, the latest being Love, Lust & Lies. This series of films is a comprehensive insight into the lives of Australian women and is surely an important historical record.

Love, Lust & Lies rejoins the women at 47, their lives altered over the years after failed relationships, marriages, children and grandchildren. While these women have been through many changes, what has stayed the same is their honesty and the courage to tell us their feelings, experiences and mistakes without sugar-coating or vanity.

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There is an amazing bond between the director and her subjects, as they have all essentially grown up together. Armstrong was in her mid-twenties when she was commissioned by the South Australian Film Corporation to make a documentary about teenage girls, looking specifically at whether they were freer and more independent than their 60s counterparts.

Mutual trust and respect has grown over the years with Armstrong returning to the women’s lives at 18 (Fourteen’s Good, Eighteen’s better), 26 (Bingo, Bridesmaids and Braces), and 32 (Not Fourteen Again) and Armstrong’s approach and delicacy has allowed the women to feel safe enough to continue the project each time a new documentary is suggested.

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Love, Lust & Lies has been developed so audiences who haven’t been initiated into the series can still watch and enjoy, with footage from earlier films leading viewers into the latest instalment. This film almost feels like it should be compulsory viewing for teenage girls, with its narratives of love, the film beautifully illustrates generational consequences and ideas of responsibility through these engaging women’s stories.

First Published on Trespass

I Love You Too

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I Love You Too marks a double debut; director Daina Reid’s first foray into feature films, and comedian Peter Helliar’s first film script. This Aussie romcom has its heart in the right place but unfortunately not much else. While the film has buckets of honest emotion, without firm structure and direction I Love You Too is an enjoyable but not successful look at modern relationships.

Jim (Brendan Cowell) is a man stuck in boyish ways, unable to make a commitment to his long-suffering English girlfriend, Alice (Yvonne Strahovski). When he fails to tell Alice that he loves her on a special night out, she decides to return home. In an odd twist of events Jim meets Charlie (Peter Dinklage), a man who is able to express his emotions beautifully in letters. With Charlie’s help can Jim win Alice back?

There are plenty of notable Aussie faces in this film, with Peter Helliar, Bridie Carter, Megan Gale and Steve Bisley all having supporting roles; there are also a few interesting cameos to look out for, but unfortunately for Australian Cinema it is American actor, Peter Dinklage who steals the show. He is fantastic as the droll and insightful Charlie. Whilst plenty of jokes in the film are directed towards his dwarfism, this is done in a charming enough way that his role doesn’t seem tokenistic and his character is by far the most intriguing and developed, so much so that you almost wish the film could have just focused on him.

I Love You Too suffers from both over explanation and underdevelopment, while Jim’s problems and past are laboured, Alice is a complete mystery; why did she put up with Jim for so long?, what sort of personality does she have?, why is her English accent so strange?

For a comedy there are few laugh-out-loud moments, but I Love You Too gives its audience plenty to smile at. This film shows the promise of the writer and director and is a happy reminder that Australian films don’t all have to all be bleak dramas or crime films.

2.5/5

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First published in The Brag 10/05/10

Blank Canvas

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Sydneysiders may remember the tragic death of dancer/choreographer, Tanja Liedtke in August 2007. German-born Liedtke was due to start as the Artistic Director of the Sydney Dance Company, when she was struck by a garbage truck whilst crossing the road. She was to take over from Graeme Murphy, who had held the role since the founding of the company in 1976. This shock loss reverberated through the dance company and the 2008 season ended up with a radical program. Three guest choreographers were each invited to create a new work starting from a blank canvas.

Spanish choreographer Rafael Bonachela was one of the three invited to Sydney, before ultimately being announced as the company’s new Artistic Director in 2009. In a fascinating and inspiring work of Australian documentary, Blank Canvas follows the Spaniard as he creates his first piece, We Unfold for the Sydney Dance Company.

Offering unprecedented access and insight into the renowned dance company, director Tim Slade and his team follow the creative process from start to finish. Bonachela begins with a beautiful piece of music from his creative collaborator, Italian composer, Ezio Bosso, Symphony No 1 ‘Oceans’ for cello and orchestra. Bonachela works with his dancers, organically discovering the movements that go with this music. Bonachela, who is a new Spanish Film Festival patron this year, is a delightful focus for the film, with his enthusiasm and tactile approach to both dance and the dancers he choreographs.

This film gives you an incredible insight into the art form of dance, not only the processes of developing a performance, but also the grace, strength and endurance of the human body. As a viewer it doesn’t matter if you are a dance novice, it is the world of Bonachela you are being taken into and even if the vocabulary of dance is new, the emotions and spectacular visions on screen transcend prerequisite dance understanding. As Bonachela says to his dancers in the film, ‘Just hold my hand and I will guide you through it”.

Using footage from rehearsals and performances as well as interviews with Bonachela, Noel Staunton (Chief Executive of the Sydney Dance Company), dancer Amy Hollingsworth (Bonachela’s second in command) and the other guest choreographers; this documentary shows the highs and lows for the dancers and the drive they all feel to be working at their best.

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First published on the Spanish Film Festival Blog 08/05/10

Interview with Steve Bisley

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The Australian Film Festival starts on 24th February with a special screening of iconic Australian film Mad Max, followed by a Q&A session with its actors and stunt performers. Included in this Popcorn Taxi event is Steve Bisley, who played platinum-blond Jim Goose in George Miller’s (Mad Max series, Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet) 1979 record breaking film. A popular Australian TV and film actor, Steve Bisley starred in Frontline, Water Rats and Sea Patrol. His latest film, Red Hill is set to revise the Australian Western.

Steve Bisley kindly took some time-out to answer some questions about making the cult film Mad Max and his character- ‘The Goose’…

The augural Australian Film Festival starts on 24th February- why do you think Mad Max has been chosen to open the festival?

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Because Max was such a groundbreaking film and possibly it took and still manages to take an audience to a place that for a change is not “uniquely Australian”.


A recent documentary, Not Quite Hollywood, which celebrates Australian genre films of the 70s and 80s, looked at elements of making Mad Max and by today’s standards of safety and insurance it looked amazingly lax, what was the experience like shooting the film?

When the Stunt Co-ordinator breaks his leg and the leading ladies leg in a motorcycle crash on the way to set on day 1 of filming, then Houston, we have a problem.

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Your character in Mad Max, Jim Goose famously rides a Kawasaki motorbike, how much of the action was you, and how much was a stunt double?

I guess I was lucky to not only have been an immensely gifted and talented Actor, but I had also ridden motorbikes all my life. I did all my own riding for The Goose character, apart from the stunt sequences of course. I also doubled for a couple of “The Bikie” characters in some of the fast open road sequences. I still ride too fast on motorcycles.


Mad Max was made for a very small, privately funded budget, and went on to capture both the Australian and International box office, a formula many Australian films have tried unsuccessfully to replicate- Why do you think Mad Max struck a chord with audiences around the world?

I think there is a naivety, born out of a combination of youthful energy and inexperience that shines through this film and the combination of these two things set against the backdrop of this violent, desolate landscape really endears it to an audience.

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There were some people who rallied against Mad Max, notably Phillip Adams. In an article for the Sydney Bulletin he wrote that Mad Max had “all the emotional uplift of Mein Kampf” stating that it would be “a special favourite of rapists, sadists, child murderers and incipient Mansons”. This description seems amusingly alarmist reading it now, but at the time how did you feel about this sort of moral criticism?

Thank God for Criticism, at least it means you’re being noticed


Mad Max has a real cult following even 30 yrs + after its release, there are Japanese Jim Goose websites and facebook pages- What do you think it is about your character that still resonates with audiences?

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I was painfully aware that “The Goose would not be there in the 2nd half of the film, and I wanted audiences to miss him when he died and by all accounts they did. I had in my mind when we were shooting the film that I was Mercutio to Mel’s Romeo and that “The Goose” like Mercutio is such a hedonist and lover of life, that their passing leaves a regret and emptiness.


The ‘Golden Age’ of Australian cinema is considered to be the 70s and 80s when films like Mad Max, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Crocodile Dundee were released. There has been a lot of debate over the last year about why Australian audiences are not going see Australian films- as an actor how do you view the current state of Australia’s film industry?

I think that for a number of reasons we have “disappointed” audiences too many times and for too long. We have chosen the wrong films to make.


Red Hill, in which you play Old Bill, premieres at the Berlin Film Festival this week (screened on 14th Feb). The trailer had been causing quite a lot of buzz, can you tell us a bit about the film?

Love to, but at this stage I don’t think I’m allowed.

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Patrick Hughes, the director/producer/writer of Red Hill, credits George Miller (director/writer of Mad Max series) as a major influence- do you see similarities in the two films (Mad Max and Red Hill)?

Yep, they’ve both got me in them.


There have been rumours for years about Mad Max 4: The Fury, with filming supposedly starting later this year and a cast named. ‘The Goose’ doesn’t actually die in Mad Max, when we last see him he is severely burnt but alive (surprisingly), could he not be resurrected for the 4th instalment?

Ask George.

Published on Trespass on 18/02/10

Interview with Jonno Durrant and Stefan Hunt

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Jonno Durrant and Stefan Hunt have made a documentary about Australian couple Pam and Alan Skuse and the orphanage they run in Tapachula, Chiapas. Somewhere Near Tapachula highlights the work of the couple and volunteers who look after 54 children at Misión México. Jonno and Stefan film examines this refuge and the unique surfing community it has grown into.

I got the opportunity to ask the filmmakers about their project...

You became aware of Misión México when you were asked to donate a DVD of your documentary Surfing 50 States, what was it that made you volunteer in Tapachula, and specifically with Alan and Pam Skuse?

JD: We were touring Surfing 50 States through North American winter and Stefan just wanted to go somewhere warm, when we heard these kids surfed; it sounded like a fun place.

SH: I think it's a common desire of young people today to volunteer and help the less fortunate. When I heard about Pam and Alan Skuse and the work they were doing at Misión México, I was pretty psyched to go down there and get involved.

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How soon after arriving in Tapachula and Misión México did you decide that you wanted to make a documentary, and how did you fund the project?

SH: I'd been at Misión México for about a week, surfing with the kids and getting to know their stories. I was so impacted by what these kids had suffered, but blown away by the love of Pam and Alan, along with the solace they find in surfing that I felt compelled to make a documentary.

JD: Stefan was so inspired by these kids, he emailed me saying, “You HAVE to come down here and bring some cameras, and we have to get this footage!”. Our cameras were back in Australia, so I contacted Walking On Water, a Christian Surf Filmmaking company and asked if we could borrow some cameras for a month. Then awesome companies such as Hurley, Global Surf Industries and Guzman y Gomez Mexican Taqueria have given us money to cover the production and tour costs, so every cent we make can go back to the kids!


What was your goal in making the documentary?

JD: Just to share the inspiring story of Pam and Alan and these kids and hope it makes people realise how good their lives are and want to help a bit with volunteering, money or donating a surfboard!

SH: The inspiration behind making this documentary was definitely the kids and their attitude towards their new life. Just like Pam, Alan and all the volunteers who come through Misión México, I wanted a brighter future for these children, to provide the opportunities for them to achieve their goals.


Tapachula seems to house some significant organised crime groups smuggling people and drugs from Central and South America, how did you find it during your time volunteering and filming there?

JD: It seemed very safe to us; we met lots of friendly people in the street and at the beach, who would stare open-mouthed at us and the kids surfing.

SH: The majority of our time was spent inside the refuge or at the beach, so we never really ran into any trouble, not to say it doesn't exist. I know the week after I left one of the kids was held up with a machete just for his pair of shoes. I think like anywhere there are the dangerous parts of town, but you know when to turn around and not walk down the dodgy looking street.


You are currently working towards a target of raising $100,000, with all the profits from Somewhere Near Tapachula and merchandise going to the Misión México. What will Pam and Alan be able to do with this money?

SH: The goal is to raise $100,000 for what we have labelled the 'future fund'. A lot of kids are graduating in the next few years, and university was out of the question due to funding, but with the future fund Pam and Alan will be able to send kids off to become doctors, pilots and whatever it is the kids are passionate about. The future of Misión México is very exciting, and with this fundraising tour the kids will be that little bit closer to achieving their dreams.

JD: It will also support the surfing program. A huge goal is to buy a block of land on the beach where they surf all the time that is $5,000…and covered with palm trees! They want to build a base there that can one day become a surf school and camp where they can teach the local struggling community the joys and love of surfing.

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You are obviously passionate about surfing, as are the orphans at Misión México; is surfing a connection that supersedes cultural and language differences?

JD: Definitely yes. I don’t want to get to spiritual, but it is just a lot of fun, and when you share that with someone, you can’t help but get a connection.

SH: Most definitely. You don't have to speak the same language or follow the same beliefs to share the common stoke of Surfing. When I would go surfing with the kids from Misión México I never felt intimated or uncomfortable, I was just out there 'yeewwwing' the grommets into some pretty sizey waves. Definitely one of the best experiences of my life.


Pam Skuse has said that the children view the beach and surfing as a ‘place to escape’, what do you think it is about surfing that the children of Misión México find so therapeutic?

JD: These kids go to school Monday through Friday, they have homework and chores like any other kid. The older kids get to surf early on Saturday morning, then the whole orphanage goes to the beach on Sunday. It is something the kids look forward to all week, and the weather and water is warm and the waves can get really good, so it’s a fun time had by all. Combine this with sharing it with your 50+ ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’, it helps wash all the cares of the week, and their troubled past away.

SH: When the kids are in the water they're not thinking about their pasts, they are just living in the moment with their new brothers and sisters. Surfing is a healthy challenge for them, and when they stand up on a wave you can feel their accomplishment, they're just super stoked on this new lifestyle. Surfing is a place of solace for everyone, but for these kids who have had to deal with so much at such a young age, surfing is the biggest breathe of fresh air.

How did the children at the orphanage feel about a documentary being made about them, and have they seen the end result?

JD: They were excited to be on camera as most kids are. They were really excited to see their surfing played back to them, I don’t think any of them had seen that before.

SH: I had been hanging out with the kids for about a month before we started filming, so they felt comfortable around me to open up and share their stories. It was pretty heavy at times, but I would explain to them that their courage is going to inspire people to help them achieve their dreams. I returned a few months later with an edited version just for the kids and they loved it so much. Sitting down with all the grommets and watching them laugh their heads off during the wipeout section was awesome.


On your blog you have put up a quote from a reviewer- “But Jonno and Stefan were so dumb, so totally uncool, that ultimately you had to love them”, you are also compared to Bill and Ted in the same review- do you think this is a fair assessment?

SH: I laughed so much when I read that review, mainly because it's so true. Jonno and I are absolute kooks who just love having a good time, and I think that when people realise that then we grow on them. Until that point we're probably just two annoying guys with a bad sense of humour.

JD: That review was for Surfing 50 States, which is all about slapstick and wacky humour, we had no idea what we were doing, but it worked out with a lot of help. This film is totally different, a lot more serious, so we recruited a lot of help to make this one too.


Will your relationship with Misión México continue and will you go back to Chiapas to film again?

JD: We can’t wait to go back there and film us handing over a $100,000 cheque to Pam and Alan and the kids, then go surfing with them again! We would love to do follow up movies so everyone can see the great things that are happening with these kids’ lives.

SH: There is not a day that goes by that I don't want to go back to Misión México. I will definitely visit that place every opportunity I get, I miss those grommets so much and the best Quesadilla shop in the world is around the corner. But in all seriousness, Misión México will always play a big part in my life, and I will do anything I can to help those kids achieve their dreams and live a life that we take for granted in Australia.

Published on Trespass 16/02/10

Interview with Barry Watterson

The inaugural Australian Film Festival begins on the 24th February, running til the 7th March, with the iconic Randwick Ritz Cinema playing host. Mixing classic Australian movies and new, unseen films, with educational programs, Q&As and other events this is a festival both celebrating Australian film and encouraging innovation in our film industry.

Festival Director, Barry Watterson took some time out to answer some questions about the development of the AFF, the Australian film industry and its future…

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This is the inaugural AFF after last year’s Australian Film Week. How many people and how much time has been spent planning and organising this festival?

The screening of features during the Australian Film Week last year was dipping a toe into the water. As soon as it finished, planning began on the inaugural Australian Film Festival and we’ve been working on it since. There’s only a few of us in the office, but we reached out to industry professionals (to whom I’m very grateful) to guide us in building the structure of the festival and providing the technical expertise to get it up and running.

How do you go about choosing films to screen, what guidelines do you impose?

The guidelines were very flexible. The main purpose of the AFF is to provide a platform for Australian film content to be seen, so we accepted films of all genres, lengths and mediums (even online or downloadable). Essentially, we provided screen space for films that we thought were worth a cinema release or with a broad range of audience appeal until we ran out.

Why have you chosen to screen well-known and loved Australian films, as well as newer, perhaps unseen films?

We chose to create ‘events’ around our well known Australian films (opening night Mad Max with cast and crew, Bad Boy Bubby with a Q & A featuring Nicholas Hope and Happy Feet as a free screening event on Clovelly Beach) to draw attention to the festival and to the rest of our program of unreleased films, workshops and competitions. We feel that if we can get audiences connected to films they know, they will hopefully come to see newer Australian film works.

AFF will involve more than film screenings, with Q&As and educational programs. Is this indicative that this is not simply a festival for film-goers, but also for potential filmmakers?

Absolutely. The AFF is not simply a screening festival. It is mainly focused on the long term development of audience for Australian film content and providing the opportunity for future filmmakers to hone their craft on the way to making their masterpieces!

You have said that the festival is taking ‘a modern and global view of what film is’, can you elaborate on how you see this modern and global view?

For a number of reasons, Australian filmmakers are a few years behind the rest of the world. ‘Film’ is not just feature film; it is also short film, television, mobidocs (content made specifically for mobile ‘phones), mogies (actors integrated into gaming platforms), online downloads, gaming and much more. Filmmakers should be considering the best form for their film content and how best to deliver it to modern audiences.

There has been an enormous amount of debate regarding Australian audiences and their attendance of Australian films - Do Australians want to watch Australian made films?

I think (and hope) that they’re willing. I don’t believe that audiences should go to see a film just because it is Australian, and filmmakers should be more aware of the audience they want to see their film. It does seem, though, that Australian audiences are less forgiving to their home product (going to the movies is an adventure, people!). As well, Australian films have the problem of access. Consider that:

1. Australia is an English speaking country, the same as the biggest film markets in the world.

2. A well funded Australian film (including marketing) can be made for $3m. Avatar had a marketing budget alone that could have made 55 such Australian films. New strategies have to evolve to combat overseas release marketing budgets.

3. Australian films have often been screened in independent cinemas. There are not many left, Australian films screen for about a week and people have to travel long distances if they want to see them.

You have stated that your purpose for AFF involves long-term goals for Australian films both in terms of content and building audiences. Again the issue of content has also been a subject of much debate, with suggestions that Australian films are too high-brow and bleak - do you share these concerns?

Filmmaking goes through cycles. Avatar does well, now everyone wants to film in 3D. For the past few years our major filmmakers have been making very fine films with tough content. There is always a place for those sort of films, but a film ‘industry’ should have a wide audience appeal. Australians are some of the funniest people I know, but it’s not reflected in the filmmaking of the past few years. That will change, especially as filmmakers begin adapting new filmmaking techniques to deliver their stories to our audiences.

There is always the argument as to whether to view film as an industry or an art form. With Government subsidies being criticised for creating a weak Australian film industry, where do you fall in this debate?

We wouldn’t have a film industry without Government subsidies. We’re too small a market. Government subsidies in Australia are set up in a way so that filmmakers have to do a lot of work before they’re given funding. I do believe, however, that more of the funding should go to development of projects (from the script stage) with a focus on how the film is delivered once it is finished.

The Australian Film Festival will be the country’s most comprehensive presentation of Australian film content; are there plans to expand the festival to other part of Australia, outside of Sydney?

Yes. If we'd had a bit more time we would have delivered events in both Melbourne and Brisbane this year. We also have plans to provide access to regional and possibly international viewers.


As Festival Director, with the festival fast approaching, which are you feeling more; stressed or exhilarated?

I'm not sure how to tell the difference at this stage. There's still a lot of work to do, but it's exciting to work with Australian filmmakers in helping them realise their dream of giving their film a cinematic release. Now all they need is an audience.

Interview published on Trespass 16/02/10