DARK WHISPERS, LOUD VOICES: THE WOMEN SHAPING AUSTRALIAN HORROR CINEMA.

FANGORIA x MONSTER FEST 2019: As Chairperson of the New South Wales chapter of Women in Film & Television (WIFT), Megan Riakos is one of the most determined advocates for gender equality in Australian cinema. She has fought that fight in the male-dominated ivory towers of the government, corporate and film sector for some time now, but she knows the most effective way to counter long-held prejudice is to get the work of women filmmakers to the fore. To that end, with producing partner Leonie Marsh, she has curated the anthology work Dark Whispers Vol. 1, a collection of vivid and complex horror shorts directed by women from the last decade of Australian film.  

Ahead of the film's NSW premiere at Fangoria x Monster Fest 2019, Riakos very kindly compiled the thoughts of her team of extraordinarily talented filmmakers for SCREEN-SPACE, posing to them (and herself) the question, "What inspired your contribution to the Dark Whispers project..."

(Pictured above, from left to right; top - Megan Riakos, Briony Kidd, Jub Clerc, Lucy Gouldthorpe; middle - Leonie Marsh, Isabel Peppard, Kaitlin Tinker, Madeleine Purdy; bottom - Angie Black, Janine Hewitt, Katrina Irawati Graham, Marion Pilowsky.)

MEGAN RIAKOS (Co-producer; Dir: THE BOOK OF DARK WHISPERS, the wrap-around narrative that binds the anthology; stars Andrea Demetriades)  “Dark Whispers was curated from a callout for completed films and we received impressive submissions from almost every state and territory in a myriad of sub-genres. There are great hidden depths of talent out there and I feel very privileged to be the caretaker of these films and to have the opportunity to work with these amazing filmmakers for the project.”

BRIONY KIDD (Dir: WATCH ME; stars Tosh Greenslade, Astrid Wells Cooper, Jazz Yap)
“Watch Me was written by Claire d'Este, from a concept she says was inspired by ‘The Nothing’ in The Neverending Story. Claire and I are friends and I think she knew it was an idea that would appeal to me. I love how it's quite simple but there's a lot to think about. The protagonist is quite unlikeable on the surface, and yet she is somewhat sympathetic because of what we see her going through. I enjoy characters who are not easy to pigeonhole.” (Pictured, right; Astrid Wells Cooper in Watch Me)

JUB CLERC (Dir: STORYTIME; stars Jhi Clarke, Sylvia Clarke, Jimmy Edgar)
“I was inspired to tell the story of a mythological being from my cultural heritage to pay homage to all the campfire stories my family would share on hunting trips. I shot Storytime in 2005, so to have life breathed back into it in this format with all these wonderful female directors is such a treat.  Having the opportunity to terrify a whole new audience is so rewarding.”

LUCY GOULDTHORPE (Dir: GRILLZ; stars Tosh Greenslade, Melanie Irons)
"Grillz was partly inspired by a raft of dreadful online dating experiences. I felt so vulnerable going on dates with people who weren't what they seemed from their online personas. So we flipped that and our main character Milla preys on the vulnerability of her online hook ups. I also wanted to make something short, sweet and black and white in my hometown of Hobart. Something fun and cheeky with a strong woman vampire who was dealing with stuff that ordinary women have to deal with - weeding through online matches and making a trip to the dentist." (Pictured, right; Melanie Irons in Grillz)

LEONIE MARSH (Prod: DARK WHISPERS VOL. 1)
“Being a part of the producing team of Dark Whispers has been a great joy; to work with so many wonderful women; to create new opportunity for these stories and these filmmakers' careers, and to highlight the wealth of talent we have here in Australia to the rest of the world.”

ISABEL PEPPARD (Dir: GLOOMY VALENTINE)
"My film was inspired by the song ‘Gloomy Sunday’, also known as the Suicide Song. It was written by a Hungarian composer in the 1930s and interpreted by Billy Holiday who's version was banned by the BBC till 2002 after a spate of deaths were associated with it. I went through a period of infatuation with this song and the combination of music and lyrics inspired a series of poetic visuals. These ended up being the inspiration for Gloomy Valentine."

KAITLIN TINKER (Dir: THE MAN WHO CAUGHT A MERMAID; stars Roy Barker, Bilby Conway, Verity Higgins)
"[I wanted to examine] the male gaze, the projection of anima and the hidden, darker side of Australian suburbia. What lies beyond those garage doors? What secret, inner worlds are we operating in? I lost the opportunity to make a feature film because a male executive decided he could re-write my feminist, prize-winning horror pitch better than I. It was crushing. I'd relish the opportunity to develop a feature with a supportive production house, and to write/direct for live theatre.” (Pictured, right; Bilby Conway in The Man Who Caught a Mermaid)

MADELEINE PURDY (Dir: LITTLE SHAREHOUSE OF HORRORS; stars Georgia Wilde, Colan Leach, Travis Jeffery)
“Fear is always relevant, but the things we fear in horror films, not so much. I wanted to speak the same language as this genre I love so much, but using the (often banal) fears that spike my adrenalin on any given day as the subject. I freak out about the natural world quite a lot. The main character in Little Sharehouse of Horrors, Maeve, is similar to myself. We exist in a little world where people talk agricultural conspiracies, and freak ourselves out about the consequences of putting in our body what we do. In short, my own anxieties inspired the short.”

Birthday Girl_trailer from Black Eye Films on Vimeo.

ANGIE BLACK (Dir: BIRTHDAY GIRL; stars Sarah Bollenberg, Michaela Teschendorff-Harden)
“The writer, Michael Harden and I had been working on a horror feature script that was drawing on aspects of Japanese horror. We wanted to investigate the fragile psychological state after loss and both of us being parents thought that the loss of the child is about as dark as you could go. Birthday Girl is about a mother who isn’t ready to let go and is tormented at the thought of not remembering.”

JANINE HEWITT (Dir: THE INTRUDER; stars Asher Keddie, Bree Desborough)
“The idea for The Intruder came from a ghost story that was emailed to me by a colleague. It posed the question - what would you do if your friend turned up wanting to talk to you but you received a phone call during your conversation letting you know that same friend had died? The email gave me goose bumps and I knew it could be developed into a great short horror film.” (Pictured, right; Asher Keddie in The Intruder)

KATRINA IRAWATA GRAHAM (Dir: WHITE SONG; stars Derty Eka Putria, Alana Golingi, Luke Wright)
“The Kuntil Anak ghost is Indonesia's most famous ghost. She is the ghost of a woman who has died in childbirth, often from a pregnancy that has resulted from male violence. She haunts pregnant women, children and men. As a child growing up in Jakarta, I was terrified of her! Later, as a young mother and abuse survivor myself, I switched from identifying as the possible victim to identifying with the ghost. I understood her desire for revenge, but also saw that there could still be the redemptive power of love even in the cold heart of a ghost. So I wrote White Song - an Indonesian ghost story told from the ghost's perspective.”

MARION PILOWSKY (Dir: THE RIDE; stars Anthony LaPaglia, Ed Speelers, Emer Kenny)
“Unbeknownst to me, my father had written a short story called 'The Lift’ under a pseudonym in 1961. Some 50 years later, he gave it to me to read and I loved it. I felt very connected to the material and I asked him how I could talk to the writer. That’s when all was revealed! I updated the setting, found a fantastic producer and pushed the button, thinking I would be paying for it myself. Then, the BBC came on board three days before we shot, which was amazing. During the pre-production madness, Anthony LaPaglia (who I knew from Adelaide) read the script and said that if I hadn’t cast the role of the 'Driver' he wanted it. The Ride was my first adaptation and first short film as a director so I was very fortunate for such great support.”

DARK WHISPERS VOL 1 will screen on Sunday November 3 at 6.15pm at Event Cinemas George Street, Sydney as part of Fangoria x Monster Fest 2019. Following the screening, the directors will be present for a QA session hosted by SBS Movies Managing Editor, Fiona Williams. Full ticket and session details can be found at the venue's official website.