I am indebted to Jason Quirk for this article and interview, in which he very kindly reviews the years of my film work, from editing to producing and directing. My thanks to Jason.
The interview covers three films,
A CITY'S CHILD
DOUBLE DEAL
DEPARTURE
Read, and any questions you have, please leave them here and I'll respond as soon as I can. Enjoy the show! BK
A nostalgic glimpse of life in the mid 1960's with the successful and popular pop group of the time, The Twilights. The film was made as a pilot to sell the series to a TV Network, and was never intended to be screened. Made on virtually nothing, it follows the stylistic approach that was used in The Beatles films. Sadly, the Network didn't see the value in this local production proposal, and the series never took off. But it was fun to make, and I think the Twilights give passable performances, given that there was virtually no rehearsal prior to filming and they were dropped into the deep end. Mary Hardy was known to Australian TV and theatre audiences as a great comedian and also a strong dramatic actress. Madeline Orr also was a talented actress, and created the original Madge Alsop in Barry Humphries productions. It is interesting to speculate IF the series had been commissioned, how it would have looked and if it would have been successful. Enjoy ONCE UPON A TWILIGHT.
Now on DVD.
Friday, 17 January 2020
WHEN IS A FILM NOT A FILM?
For today’s filmmakers it might seems strange that
film distribution was ever difficult; streaming, downloading, DVD’s provide
endless outlets for viewers to see one’s work. But nothing really equates to
viewing a film in a cinema with all the ambiance created by a million
screenings of a million films.
Let me tell you a story, a story of distribution of my
film A CITY’S CHILD. The film was first off the rank after Liberal PM John
Gorton decided the industry needed some support. The Experimental Film Fund was
the first to receive funding and $6000 of that went towards production of A
CITY’S CHILD.
It’s conception and realisation I’ll leave for another
time, but I take you back to 1971; the film had completed and went on to screen
at various film festivals around the world. That is also another story for
another time; I’m dealing now with a year or so later when John Fraser, who at that
time was with Greater Union a film distributor in Australia.
John, who supported and believed in Australian films,
fought valiantly to have GU screen the film and eventually won, but it was
ahollow victory.
GU, not wanting the film, decided to claim it as invalid
under the quality clause of the
New South Wales Film Quota Act.
“The Film
Quota Act, full title the New South Wales Cinematograph Films
(Australian Quota) Act was an act of legislation passed in September
1935 that came into force on 1 January 1936. Under the Act it was compulsory
that in the first year of operation 5 per cent, of the films distributed in New
South Wales must be Australian productions, the percentage to increase yearly
for five years when it becomes 15 per cent.”
This despite being
produced in Melbourne with an all Australian cast and crew, with Federal Government
Investment (it was not initially a grant). Media reports on this forced GU to
relinquish their claim and reluctantly they agreed to distribute the film. After
a very limited release in suburban cinemas, the film was withdrawn. My eternal
thanks to John Fraser for his efforts (he also helped Brian Trenchard Smith
with the release of The Man from Hong Kong).
To achieve the cinema
release, the Australian Film Development Fund allotted $5000 towards costs for the
blowup from 16mm to 35mm; ColourFilm deferred payment of $5000 for lab work. The
total $10,000 I personally paid back. I also personally funded the 16mm prints
and freight to the various international film festivals, which then required a
physical print. There was no Government funding for this.
I suppose if
A CITY’S CHILDwere to be made today it
may obtain distribution through the Art House cinemas, and I can understand the
business heads at GU at the time not wishing to take the film, which they probably
believed to be noncommercial, but their claim it was not Australian as a devious
way to not screen local product, revealed who their masters were at the time. “Hooray
For Hollywood”.
https://vimeo.com/363749594
However, now the
film is available online, so you have a chance to evaluate it. I hope you enjoy
it, if only for Monica Maughan great performance. Enjoy!
The best and most mature
of the Australian features is "A City's Child" produced and directed
by Brian Kavanagh.
Set in a middle class
suburb of Melbourne, the film, written by Don Battye, treats the loneliness of
a thirtyish spinster who, following the death of her carping, invalid mother,
builds a world of fantasy out of solitude and frustration.
Too often the director
appears uncertain of what to do next with a resultant loss of dramatic tension
and is prone to that all-Australian failing, the hammer-heavy delineation of
obvious symbolism. But on the whole Kavanagh achieves an admirable blend of
narrative elements and layman's sociology.
The subtle, knowing
performance of Monica Maughan as the central character is a further asset. Miss
Maughan constructs a cautious portrait of internal pain, of a woman alive but
incapable of living.
Kavanagh's website also
quotes this mention arising from the London Film Festival:
And Brian Kavanagh's
intense view of a lonely spinster in Sydney, finding kinky consolation in the
collection of dolls, " A City's Child," creates an errie atmosphere
which remained with me long after most of the festival's other films had been
and gone. Eric
Shorter, London Daily Telegraph, December 1st 1971.
And this notice by Ken
Quinnell in Nation magazine on 22nd January 1972:
There can be no mistaking
Brian Kavanagh's exceptional talent as a director. Throughout, the precision of
his camera placements, the flow of movement within the frame, and the exacting
performances serve perfectly the underlying ambiguity of events and produce a
masterpiece in miniature.
