THE 5 MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN AUSTRALIA'S UNDERGROUND FILM CULTURE
Thursday, September 11, 2014 at 5:20PM “Is Richard Wolstencroft for real?” pondered a broadsheet journalist as far back as 2004. He is, albeit in the guise of a larger-than-life figure whose ideal reality is often at odds with the accepted norm. First as a film director (Bloodlust, 1992; Pearls Before Swine, 1999; The Beautiful and Damned, 2010) then, for the the last 15 years, as overseer of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF), Richard Wolstencroft (pictured, below) has been at the forefront of transgressive cinema culture in Australia, clashing with censorship advocates, funding sector bureaucrats and conservative mouthpieces on a regular basis. On the eve of MUFF 2014, a very busy Wolstencroft kindly accepted an editorial assignment from SCREEN-SPACE, when we asked him, “What have been the five most important developments in Australia’s undergrond film sector?”…
Super 8 Film Stock. "What underground and indie films were often made on in the 70’s and early 80’s. A really amazing, versatile and fun film format that meant you could be a big time filmmaker, even when you were a kid. I started making Super 8 films in 1980 at age 11. It taught the tactile art of cinema and helped you get out there and really learn cinema the only way possible - by simply doing it. The New York Cinema of Transgression was mostly shot on this format. And so too the Australian Cinema of Transgression, made up of young filmmakers like myself, Mark and Colin Savage, Phillip Brophy, Jon Hewitt and many others." Watch The Power of Super 8 from SXSW Festival, 2010.
The Advent of Home Video. "The arrival of home video in the early 80’s was a complete revolution in cinema and changed the way cinema is seen forever. As kids and early teens we rented everything – including porn – from the local video shop owners, who turned their backs when we snuck into the adult section. The arrival of horror, cult films and ‘video nasties’ also changed aesthetic standards and tastes forever. This was a much more burgeoning cinema culture than most of the arthouse and critically lauded nonsense around at that time. Few things were not on video and this (distribution method) marked the birth of the home cinema age, that has now become so vital in the internet age."
The Making of Made-on-Video Feature Films. "I was honored to be a major catalyst and to be involved in two out of three of the first made-on-video feature films ever shot in this country. Marauders (1986) by Mark Savage and Bloodlust (1991) by Jon Hewitt and my good/evil self. We both wished to carry on the great tradition of Ozploitation cinema and so we did!"
WARNING: Some content may offend.
The Arrival of Video Cinema. "When my old pal Jon Hewitt opened Panorama, Australia’s first video cinema, in the early to mid 90’s, he was laughed at and mocked by many of the blinkered morons in the industry. Now almost every cinema in the country has gone the way of Panorama. That is vision for you! We both knew it was the future after Bloodlust - and why not embrace the future early, we thought?" (Ed: In 2012 interview with Crikey.com, critic Jake Wilson recalled, "the strangest cinema I’ve ever been to was the Panorama, Jon Hewitt’s ahead-of-its-time videotheque on Brunswick St, Fitzroy, which used to show Sam Fuller triple bills and documentaries on what was called the “modern primitive” movement back when body piercing was considered edgy. Now it’s a community credit co-operative. Unless I dreamt the whole thing.")
The Founding of Underground Film Festivals. "The world’s first two Underground Film festivals were the New York and Chicago events (pictured, right; Todd Phillips and Andrew Gurland, co-founders of the New York Underground Film Festival) . I was inspired by both to start MUFF, now the third oldest in the World, I believe. Soon after they popped up all over the place, most notably in Sydney, after (SUFF founder) Stefan Popescu was an official MUFF guest with his short film, Roseberry 7470, about 9 years back now."
Reader Comments (1)
The Melbourne Underground Film Festival is upon us once again, and once again MUFF director Richard Wolstencroft is touting his credentials as a crusader for Freedom of Speech. However, this tweet calls those credentials seriously into question:
“Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi doesn’t interest me. If he expected Free Speech in Iran then he’s a fool. Free Speech is a Western Value.”
Make of that what you will.
https://twitter.com/richardw777/status/136624560714948609