Screen West

G’day,

This is an open question and letter To Whom It May Concern at Screen West.

I refer to the West Australian article from 13/1/2007 that outlines Screenwest’s alleged recent funding rejection of a new Australian feature film that was slated to be set in and around Perth.

I would sincerely like some insight into the machinations of Screenwest and its role in the Australian film industry. If the claims made within this article are true, then I just have to ask why?  If a film with a script that has been “praised by the Australian Writers Guild…” and further lauded by “Buena Vista International” has been “refused funding” what is going on?

I also note that this article claims that in the last 10 years Screenwest has “knocked back” three extremely successful film projects in Shine, Rabbit Proof Fence and Wolf Creek. I’m sure I don’t need to spell out how disconcerting it is for a Western Australian film lover and supporter to be told that WA’s chief funding body has passed on three films that went on to collectively earn more than 70 million AUD internationally and 20 Million AUD domestically.

As a Western Australian who has spent several years living in the Eastern States, I have often encountered the view that WA is a cultural desert. It pains me to imagine that this is in any way true. From my point of view and personal experience there certainly would appear to be an annual exodus of artistic talent from Perth and WA. I sincerely hope that the people involved in Screenwest and other arts funding bodies and indeed the WA State Government at large are as concerned about the cultural health and diversity of WA as I am. 

Yours Sincerely,
Dendonedid

aww c'mon guys

Last Monday night we had four idiots walk into our bottlo and take 4 or 5 bottles of spirits off the shelf and then uber-casual-like stroll out of the exit. One of our guys was in the main coolroom and didnt see a thing, but Joshy caught sight of them as they were on the turn and went right up to them and said to them "Come on guys..." that if they "stopped now" and "put the stuff back" that he wouldnt call the police. Other than attack them in some way there was nothing Joshy could do. They responded by speeding up a little, all confidence, and casualled outta there. No fault on Joshy, because we dont get paid enough to be bouncers and he did real well just to get close up and confront them...anyway when we looked back on the security footage we were all struck by how funny Joshy looked as he reached out to these morons, a study of opposites - "c'mon guys...be reasonable" so here it is...the perfect caption: "aww c'mon guys!"

Triple J Hottest 100

I voted in the Triple J hottest 100! Because I rock and Triple J rocks. Do you rock?

Looking over my ten songs for this year, you might notice I’m sporting a heavy bias towards the more indie acts (That’s a kind of tactical voting…isn’t it Pollbludger? ;-) Certainly if I wanted to vote in a more populist way I would’ve at the very least included the following three songs, which I’m certain will feature large somewhere in the top 20:

Kanye West’s - Touch The Sky, Youth Group’s – Forever Young and Lupe Fiasco’s – Kick Push. They’re good songs, but they don’t need my vote. All three of these songs were or still are getting heavy rotation on big FM radio. Some people might even argue that these types of songs shouldn’t be played on JJJ anymore, too big and too popular in the mainstream…although it occurs to me that its good for JJJ to have some “big hits” and good for smaller less known acts that they be heard in the mix with big platinum unit shifters such as Kanye.

Anyway… so I probably won’t have a single song I voted for in the Hottest 100 this year, whereas I had 5 last year! *-)

Dappled Cities Fly - Fire Fire Fire
Deloris - Loup Garou
The Editors - Blood
Faker - Love for Sale
Josh Pyke (Night Hour) - Memories & Dust
Laura Jean - I'm A Rabbit I'm A Fox
Pony Up! - The Truth About Cats & Dogs (Is That They Die)
Red Riders - A.S.P.I.R.I.N.
Subaudible Hum - All For The Caspian
Valentinos - Rain

Top Ten Films 2006

1. Syriana

2. The Prestige

3. Jackass 2

4. Ten Canoes

5. The Departed

6. The Host (Gwoemul)

7. Clerks 2

8. Thank you For Smoking

9. Crude Awakening

10. In The Shadow Of The Palms

──

11. Darkon

12. Seven Swords

13. Shooting Dogs

14. The Great Yokai War (Yôkai daisensô)

15. Overcoming

16. Performance (Special mention)

I had a wonderful year for film going. I saw the most films ive ever seen at cinemas in a year, being 31, of which 14 I saw at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It was also my privilege to briefly work at the utterly superb “rare, cult & foreign” video store The Movie Reel in Northcote. And I attended the Melbourne premiere of Clerks 2 with over three hours of Q&A with Kevin Smith afterwards! Choosing for my list was extremely close this time around and I could have easily done a Top 15 with nothing much between 1 and 15 in terms of how I felt about them. Hence I’ve included 5 alternates and a special mention for Performance, the surprisingly rare 1970 film starring Mick Jagger and James Fox in his last film before an almost decade long sabbatical and alleged breakdown, which was in no small part connected to the psychedelic shenanigans that occurred during the making of Performance. I was very lucky to see a restored print screened at the impressive Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACME) Cinémathèque in Melbourne. Its an excellent and film and I had to mention it, even though it was filmed way back in 1968.