Father Geek here... and I'm a happy camper. That wonderful Male/Female tag-team reporting duo that provided us all with that great daily coverage of MIFF (Melbourne International Film Festival) a couple of weeks ago is back again... this time as the newest members of our international AICN editorial crew. They have agreed to turn-in a regular weekly column for all of you under the byline of "AICN Downunder". They will be keeping us up-to-date on ALL the happenings on the Australian/New Zealand film fronts... sooooooooo, make sure to write Ms. Tamsin and/or Norman with any scoops, rumors, news, reviews, interviews, etc... you may have the relates to film making "Downunder", and we'll see to it that the world finds out about it...

WELCOME TO THE AICN STAFF! Great 1st column...

Now here's the 1st half of our 1st regular "Downunder" column... and the male half of our editorial staff, NORMAN...

OZ AICN #1 - Norman Gunston

NEWS

OZ FILMS TO FEATURE AT CANADIAN FILMFESTS

* The filmfest circuit swings on through this month, and a few Australian filmmakers are surfing that wave all the way to Canada. Richard Lowenstein's HE DIED WITH A FELAFEL IN HIS HAND has been accepted into the Montreal World Film Festival, and will screen in the "Cinema of Tomorrow: New Trends" section. David Caesar's superb MULLET and Alkinos Tsilimidos' SILENT PARTNER have also been accepted at MWFF. SILENT PARTNER will continue its festival run through September, in Toronto and Athens.

TROPNEST TO CLOSE

* Probably not known to overseas readers, but an innovative screenwriting initiative funded as an offshoot of the successful Tropfest short film festival (held in Sydney) has just collapsed. Tropnest allowed screenwriters to follow promising ideas through to first draft, and also provided them with a writing "nest" on the Fox Studios lot. Tropnest director Jonn Polson (also an actor - part of the MI team in MI-2) blamed the closure on a lack of funds, but pointed towards the success of several Tropnest grads as a vindication of the scheme's intentions. I'll be looking to perhaps feature a few Tropnest writers in some coming reports, maybe we can do something about rescuing this scheme...

MIFF ANNOUNCES AWARDS

* No doubt smarting over their thunder being stolen by the "Gunston Awards", MIFF recently announced the most popular films of MIFF 2001. Some surprises, some "what were they thinking", some "why didn't I see that myself", here they are in descending order: LANTANA (Australia), ATANARJUAT THE FAST RUNNER (Canada), THE BANK (Australia), RAIN (New Zealand), FAITHLESS (Sweden), A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES (Iran), THE OLD MAN WHO READ LOVE STORIES (Australia/France), THE PLEDGE (USA), THE LUZHIN DEFENCE (UK), and JOINT SECURITY AREA (Korea). Come on people, I know Australia doesn't make many genre films but there's no need to froth at the mouth when one actually arrives - I'm talking about THE BANK, and it wasn't even very good at the genre thing anyway. Top five of the docos: Sabbath profile WE SOLD OUR SOULS TO ROCK AND ROLL (USA), SCRATCH (USA), STANLEY KUBRICK: A LIFE IN PICTURES (USA), PROMISES (USA), TREMBLING BEFORE G_D (USA), and KEEP THE RIVER ON YOUR RIGHT (USA). Clean sweep for the Yanks. It's hard to dispute the results of a popularity contest, but it was disappointing that the remarkable VIDEO DIARY OF RICARDO LOPEZ and LESSONS OF DARKNESS weren't recognised.

NORMAN'S ROVING REPORT on:

POPCORN TAXI - A forum with Ken Sallows, editor of CHOPPER

A few things first. Popcorn Taxi is a recent initiative, partially funded - I think - through the local film commision the AFC, intended to massage our film community back into some sort of shape. Initially Sydney-based, it's become a bit of a roadshow as I saw this event at Melbourne's local film school, the VCA. Curiously enough, I saw an advance screening of CHOPPER last year courtesy of a Popcorn Taxi screening so you get an idea of how supportive they project's been of local film culture lately.

This forum was subtitled "Frame by Frame" and we had a moderator up there on the stage with Sallows as they flicked through the DVD of CHOPPER and throughout we were of course given the skinny on the techniques employed, what was left on the cutting room floor, and an insight on director Andrew Dominik's changing approach to the film through the post-production process.

I liked CHOPPER a lot. Dominik made a confident, stylish piece of film, helped in major part by Eric Bana's star-making turn as the (f)earless crim subject of the title. I've continued to believe that Bana's outstanding performance has overshadowed serious story problems in Dominik's script, particularly the latter half. It's something I hold to, despite losing a couple of spirited arguments with Wraygirl: she held that moving Chopper through a story required asking the audience to sympathise/identify with this crim, and by not doing this, Dominik kept the audience guessing.

Sallows surprised me, then, by noting that at assembly stage (where all the filmed material is roughly edited together in story order) CHOPPER was a very different film. He glossed over the details, but evidently we saw more of Chopper's earlier days, kidnapping a judge etc, and more of his working his way up the crime ladder after his release from jail. Through editing, Dominik made the judgement call that Bana's performance was so strong that the audience would lose interest whenever he wasn't on the screen. (Dominik and Sallows would work on the material together, bouncing ideas off each other. The director, of course, had the final word.) Following this path to its conclusion, he and editor Sallows effectively turned it from a narrative piece to a character study. In doing so, Dominik jettisoned half a million dollars worth of material - a big deal when you're working with a four-five million dollar budget. Despite pressure from debutant production company Mushroom Pictures (led by former record company boss Michael Gudinski), Dominik held firm throughout this paring back. As Sallows ruefully pointed out on many occasions, the director of CHOPPER is a man not easily deviated from his chosen path.

I went into this forum wanting to learn more about the invisible craft of editing, and Sallows' discussion of the Chopper/Jimmy reunion (in Jimmy's rundown flat) gave me my best insight. For those who haven't seen the film, it's an almost unbearable scene, rippling through with mortal dread, head games, double-crossing, and ancient history between two old mates. In prison, Jimmy surprised his best mate Chopper by stabbing him - but he didn't quite have the nerve to finish it off. Now Chopper sits across from him in his own living room, and although Jimmy doesn't know it, Chopper has a gun hidden down the back of his dacks.

We learned that Mushroom wanted the scene in at five minutes - they felt it dragged. Dominik and Sallows insisted it had to be eight. Anything less and you'd lose the quiet moments where the gears inside each man's head shift - and the menace of the silences. We know at this point that Chopper could and will do anything - literally anything - it's his potential for violence that gives this scene oxygen.

Give or take a few seconds, it's an eight minute scene.

Sallows guides us through the initial medium shots as Jimmy and Chopper banter greetings. (There's a dolly/pan camera move early in the scene that Sallows still detests - too "filmic".) Then as the scene progresses Sallows "ratchets up" the tension by telescoping us towards the two men. This breaks into a two-shot as Chopper pulls out his pistol and holds it to Jimmy's head. It's perhaps the finest, most assured moment of CHOPPER and Sallows is a major part of why it works so well.

The subject matter of CHOPPER sounds grim, but those who've seen it would probably have no problems in calling it a black comedy. Through editing, Sallows and Dominik worked hard to play this up. It was part of the crazed, isolated, sensory deprivation atmosphere of the editing suite, Sallows revealed. The further they shaped the material, got inside it, the more humour they found. As a result, some of the sickest moments in CHOPPER are also the most funny.

Credit Sallows for this. He's an editor with 20 years of experience, one of Australia's finest editors, but perhaps unfairly he's been pigeon-holed as an editor of "light" material. He's mainly known for comedies - Emma Kate Croghan's LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES and STRANGE PLANET, CRACKERS, MALCOLM - and lighter dramas like Jocelyn Moorhouse's debut PROOF. He admitted that he chased CHOPPER, seeing its harder material as a chance for him to break out of this stereotype; ironically, it was the "lighter" qualities he brought that has made CHOPPER such a success. Unfortunately Sallows has not yet edited an overseas film - he wondered whether his style was too distinctively local - but CHOPPER should hopefully remedy this before too long.

See you next week kids!

Send any and all cool Ozfilm-related goss/info/reviews/reports/opinions/money/swag to Norman (normangunston@aintitcoolmail.com) and I'll make you famous...

Father Geek back... Now here's the second half of this weeks premiere column, and the lovely TAMSIN ...

Hi Everyone,

Here is my section of The First OZ/NZ AICN Film Report.

AIN'T IT COOL NEWS "DOWNUNDER" REPORT - #1

NEWS

GO RUSS GO! Not only is New Zealander Crowe currently on his 30 Odd Foot of Grunts tour, but the word is that he has just signed on to write, direct, star in and produce "THE LONG GREEN SHORE." Originally written by Industry stalwart, Bob Ellis (NOSTRADAMUS KID, CACTUS, NEWSFRONT among others), it is based on a John Hepworth novel about an Australian battalion in World War 11.

Crowe is also apparently in negotiations to star in a $10 million movie about THE EUREKA STOCKADE with Geoffrey Rush. Set in 1854 during the Gold rush at Ballarat, Victoria, "The Eureka Stockade" was the site of a bloody battle between aggrieved gold diggers and state troopers. It is set to be directed by David Caesar, (MULLET, IDIOT BOX and the upcoming DIRTY DEED starring Toni Collette and Bryan Brown)

DEAD ENTREPRENEUR

Media mogul, Christopher Skase, who fled Australia for Majorca after his financial empire collapsed leaving the public calling for his head, finally proved everyone wrong by dying last week. The frenzied witch-hunt is now over, except for the completion of the feature film, LET'S GET SKASE which is set for released by Roadshow Film Distributors in October 2001. Written and directed by Matthew George and Lachy Hulme, the much-anticipated comedy LET'S GET SKASE about a plot to kidnap Skase from Majorca and return him to Australia, was produced taking into account that Skase may die at any time, and the filmmakers have happily stated that, "The movie is actually set in 1995, so the death of Christopher Skase doesn't really have any direct impact on the events that are depicted in the film." Yes, we're a sick country!!

TAX CONCERNS

The Australian Taxation Department is once again causing filmmakers grief, by overturning prior decisions made for certain films, including MOULIN ROUGE and RED PLANET, regarding tax breaks for local content. Considering these films had already been approved by the Federal Government, it makes no sense to overturn these decisions now and has had a huge affect on the Australian Film Industry's reputation as a world player. Can't government agencies get the paperwork right before they make decisions? It does not make sense to have retrospective laws, especially after a film has been made and investors have already committed to the project. Perhaps the Tax Office needs to take a class in Film Finance and see just how much process and procedure filmmakers have to wade through these days. The slightest mistake in paperwork can kill an entire project.

REVIEWS

UNDER-RATED CLASSIC AUSTRALIAN FILM OF THE WEEK:

I'm excited to see that my first "Underrated Australian Film of the Week" has just been released on DVD so everyone can see it now. THE INTERVIEW was released in 1998 and scooped the pool at the AFI (Australian Film Industry) Awards that year. I was living in LA when it was released and heard nothing about it until I stumbled on a copy and accidentally started watching it, knowing nothing about it at all. I was blown away by this solid, dynamic first film by writer/director, Craig Monahan (co-written by Gordon Davie). The film opens with a dishevelled man (the always spectacular Hugo Weaving), surrounded by the detritus of his messy apartment, awoken by two burly policemen (Tony Martin and Aaron Jeffrey), arrested and taken in for questioning. It is an extremely engrossing dissertation on the shifting struggle for power between the accused and the accuser, among the police themselves, and between the Press and the Law. It is an enjoyable psychological mind-fuck and a totally satisfying experience. Seek this one out!!

UNDER-RATED FILM INDUSTRY PERSON OF THE WEEK

Though born in England, writer Linda Aronson has spent most of her time working and refining her craft in Australia. With feature film credits such as Paul Cox's KOSTAS and many television credits, Linda is mostly known for her re-interpretation and development of techniques for the screen writing process. She has recently released a screenwriting book called "Screenwriting Updated: New (and Conventional) Ways of Writing for the Screen." For all those who scoff at the old screenwriting manuals, this one is for you. It analyses some classics as well as more recent releases, such as BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and AMERICAN BEAUTY and gives an extremely focused and user-friendly language for script analysis and development. Coining terms such as, "Action" and "Relationship" Lines, "Parallel Narratives", "Case-history Flashbacks", Linda provides many critical approaches to the screenwriting process. It is definitely worth the read. She also provides a free update newsletter, where she offers views and analyses of the most recent films, which you can subscribe to at laronson@ozemail.com.au.

Put "Subscribe to newsletter" in the subject line.

She has been completely overwhelmed by the response to her book and is now doing guest classes on parallel narrative at NYU, Columbia, NFTS in London and Goldsmiths' London with the possibility of other classes in Paris and LA and interest from Germany. She also has had enormous support from Linda Seger ("Making a Good Script Great") and Chris Vogler ("The Writer's Journey"'s") (two excellent screenwriting books also). Her book, "Screenwriting Updated New (and Conventional) Ways of Writing for the Screen" (Title in the US), has also just won the Australian Award for Excellence in Educational Publishing. Just a note for Aussie readers, the Australian edition is called "Scriptwriting Updated New and Conventional Ways of Writing for the Screen". Linda also has another book on TV writing (which I haven't read but will definitely look for) called "Television Writing: The Ground Rules of Series, Serials and Sitcom".

Her email/newsletter is not a discussion group but is an ongoing newsletter which she sends out when she can. She does not reply to emails and cannot give advice or feedback on individual scripts. The benefit of this is that she is a working scriptwriter and therefore is constantly refining and advancing her craft. But look out for her seminars around the world.

COOL AUSSIE SITE OF THE WEEK

www.astroboy.com.au

Does anybody else think that the Japanese cartoons which were first created by Ozamu Tezuka in the 60s have similarities to the recently released A.I. ?

Doctor Boyton, a scientist and inventor, creates a little boy robot in the image of his dead son.

Astroboy is separated from his new "father" and is stolen by the ringmaster of a Circus which exploits robots.

At one stage, Astroboy's sister, Uran, (who is created by Doctor Elefan, Astro's friend and saviour) consults an amusement park computer to find out where God lives.

Possibility for live-action feature film - Apparently Columbia, with producers Don Murphy and Jane Hamsher, have bought the rights to develop a live-action movie and there are plans for another animated TV series. It will be extremely fascinating to see how the film turns out.

Until next week...

Tamsin

Tamsin@aintitcoolmail.com