OCHRE AND INK at ‘I WAS THEREFORE I AM’ exhibition
Artist Zhou Xiaoping, Curator Kathy Leung and Director James Bradley at Hong Kong House Sydney following the screening of OCHRE AND INK and Q&A on Friday 11 April 2014.
OCHRE AND INK Screening at the Arts School of Chengdu University
As part of Sichuan TV Festival’s ‘Australia Day’, OCHRE AND INK screened to a large audience of faculty and students at the Arts School of Chengdu University on 18 November.
The students were clearly inspired by the documentary and welcomed James to the stage.
James talked about the film and answered questions on a wide range of related subjects for over 90mins.
OCHRE AND INK Screening at Sichuan Normal University
OCHRE AND INK screened as part of the Sichuan TV Festival ‘Australia Day’ screenings at the Film and Television College of Sichuan Normal University in Chengdu.
Cathy Li & James Bradley were warmly welcomed by the faculty heads and students, and later took part in a comprehensive Q&A session with the students who asked some very perceptive questions.
Cathy & James were hosted by senior students July Ji and Jackie Liu who also translated for James as he discussed the state of documentary in China with Mr. Kang Sheng Li, Vice President of the College and Former Chairman of E’Mei Film Studio. Afterwards the Faculty members hosted Cathy & James at a sumptuous lunch.
OCHRE AND INK a Finalist for Australian Arts In Asia Awards
We are thrilled to share the news that OCHRE AND INK has just been announced as a Finalist in the inaugural Australian Arts in Asia Awards in the Digital and Film category. Arts Minister Tony Burke announced the finalists today and the Winners will be announced at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday 1 August.
OCHRE AND INK kicks off the first Oceania International Film Festival in Fiji
Tonight OCHRE AND INK is honoured to be the first film screened at the inaugural ‘Islands In The World’ Oceania International Film Festival in Suva, Fiji
ATOM Award for Best Documentary Short Form 2012
OCHRE AND INK wins the 2012 ATOM Award for Best Documentary Short Form at the ceremony held at Red Bennies in Melbourne 22 November
Producer Rachel Clements, AIDC Representative Britt Arthur & Director James Bradley
Editor Karen Johnson nominated for an Ellie
Editor Karen Johnson has been nominated by the Australian Screen Editors for the 2012 Adobe Award for Best Editing in a Documentary Program for OCHRE AND INK
Ânûû-rû Âboro Festival – 3
After a morning swim, lunch at the Mediathèque market, and a very pleasant visit to a waterfall with Hnaie, we watch the powerful documentary ‘5 Broken Cameras’. The filmmaker’s quiet anger at the injustice inflicted on his people is palpable and it is hard not to share it.
Awards night in Bayes village includes many speeches, ceremonial exchanges of gifts, a great feast and enthusiastic dancing.
The awards in the Pacific Competition go to New Caledonian films, so Ochre and Ink doesn’t get a gong this time.
Ânûû-rû Âboro Festival – 2
A relaxed morning of a dawn walk on the beach, discussions and sunshine.
Lunch with Xiaoping at the community market, then to the Mediathèque cinema to watch ‘Bad Weather’ by Italian director Giovanni Giommi. This amazingly intimate and powerful documentary tells the story of the small community of sex workers living on the tiny mud islet of Banishanta in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh.
Then back to Bayes community for dinner and a screening of ‘Little Heaven’
Ânûû-rû Âboro Festival – 1
Xiaoping and I are now in New Caledonia at Ânûû-rû Âboro film Festival.
After a 5 hour crowded bus ride from Nouméa north and across the mountains – I am the only whitefella and seemingly the only English speaker – I arrive at Poindimié this afternoon in drizzling rain.
The bus drops me at the rather salubrious Festival hotel on the beach – Tiéti Tera.
Xiaoping (who arrived 3 days ago) and I are sharing a small but pleasant room – the last time we shared a room was at the Maningrida Community accommodation in Arnhem Land.
They say they will move us to a bigger bungalow tomorrow, so we hope they do!
The screening of OCHRE AND INK goes very well in Bayes (Nägèè) village tonight under a big community shelter in the pouring rain! The audience love it, and ask some perceptive questions.
It is quite a contrast to the state-of-the-art projection at the new cinema XXI in Bali last week!
Here it is in the open air, people sitting on mats and screening from DVD. Luckily the French subtitles can’t be drowned out by the loud rain!
After the screening we use our festival currency to buy food cooked by the people in the village – local fish, prawns, veggies, fruit etc; and then chat in broken Frenglish with audience members as we dine together.
But it is unseasonably wet & cold!! Hope it warms up in the next few days so we can get to enjoy the pool and the ocean…
New Caledonia arrival nightmare
Its not a good start – standing in a long immigration queue at Noumea airport with only 2 officers to process a full plane load of tired travellers – and after 2 hours of that, the bus taking most people into town won’t start and we have to wait another hour and half for a new one to come before starting the hour drive to our hotels…
BALINALE Awards Night
We are presented with the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary at the Closing Party at the fabulous WooBar.
Its a great opportunity to find out more about the many creative & dedicated people involved in BALINALE – its a real community event!
This week at BALINALE has definitely been a real contrast to my previous trips to Bali – more luxurious but also more demanding! Our accommodation at the W Resort & Spa is fabulous, but the traffic around Kuta is pretty crazy.
In The Palace – audience
Sunflowers seem to be a major crop in Bulgaria – and a very cheery one! If only sunflowers liked watching films!
In The Palace – Day 6
Nominations are announced at a press conference in the morning for finalists in all categories. Ochre and Ink is one of 3 nominations in the documentary category, and that adds a slight tension to the day as we wait for the awards presentation at 8pm.
It’s a rather low key ceremony with a couple of Bulgarian actors making small talk and telling locally specific jokes on stage.
Members of the 6 person international jury present the awards, but there is a bit of language confusion over exactly what award is what.
Our friends Jons & Angi from Berlin are presented with a Special Jury Prize in the fiction category for their ‘Short for Vernesa B.’ but we all think they are receiving the Best Fiction award.
Ochre and Ink doesn’t win the documentary award, which is presented to ‘Machine Man’, a poetic but unoriginal vision of manual labour in India. It’s a surprising choice, because we’ve seen it all before in numerous other films.
In The Palace nominations & awards
James and Asier Urbieta arm wrestle over the best documentary award at In The Palace.
In The Palace – Day 4
There aren’t many laughs to be had from the mostly serious and sometimes very intense films screening here in Varna. It seems that in the short film world, the temptation to be obscure, or at least to avoid being obvious, is extremely powerful. Too many films have left us puzzled about some part of the story or meaning, because the filmmaker is trying to be just that bit too clever. It’s a fine line of course, because part of the charm of short films is that the story is told in shorthand, and the audience has to work to decode it.
However, there are a few standout films today that achieve a satisfying balance, and even one laugh-out-loud comedy – from Australia – ‘dik’ by Christopher Stollery. This film got a great audience reaction, standing out from the very serious films in the same program.
Other stand-outs today are the documentary ‘Back to Mandima’ by Robert-Jan Lacombe from Switzerland and the cleverly stylised and powerful ‘The Child Will Die’ by César & José Esteban Alenda from Spain.
James with filmmakers from Macedonia
Cathy with volunteer Albatool Ali from Jordan
James with Bulgarian filmmaker Plamena Hristova and actor Daniel Vasilev from the film ‘Busking’
In The Palace – Day 3
Many more filmmakers arrive today and it’s becoming apparent just how eclectic this festival is. Each screening session includes fiction, documentary, animation and experimental. The Experimental films certainly add a dimension not always seen in festivals, and some are quite challenging to the audience. Only a few people, including Cathy & I, had the fortitude to stay right till the end of ‘Hyperlightness ad absurdum’, a 25 minute meditation on colour and pattern in religion, from the UK & Portugal.
Cathy Li with filmmakers from Canada, Spain & Korea
In The Palace – Day 2
Varna is a pretty laid back seaside city on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, and the vibe at In The Palace festival is also relaxed and convivial. Some of the stand-out films screened last night include ‘Audition’ from Israel, ‘Terminal Phase’ from Spain, ‘Light Years’ from Germany and ‘The Temperature Of Water’ from South Korea.
‘Ochre and Ink’ screens in competition tonight, and James is being interviewed on Bulgarian TV this morning.
We’re looking forward to seeing more great short films and meeting lots of filmmakers over the next 5 days.
James with Down Chung, director of the powerful ‘The Temperature Of Water’ from South Korea
The screening of Ochre and Ink in the huge festival cinema is received enthusiastically by the audience – but we’ll have to wait till Saturday night to see what the Jury thinks!
There’ll be another screening on Friday at 1pm.
Sofia, Bulgaria
On our way to Varna on the Black Sea Coast for In The Palace International Short Film Festival, we spend a few days in the capital, Sofia.
Sofia is relaxed, easy to walk around and inexpensive…
Bright sunshine, great food, wine and beer – what more could you ask for?
Yesterday afternoon we happened to see a small Gay Rights parade, protected by an enormous force of security police, as they passed the beautiful gold-domed St Nikolai ‘the miracle maker’ Russian Church.
When the parade had passed, we went inside this small church with its smoke-blackened murals and ancient icons to accidentally join in a mass which included lots of incense action by the immaculately groomed long-haired and bearded young priests, lots of crossing and bowing by the small group of pious women in long dresses and head scarves, quite a bit of icon kissing, and some of the most beautiful singing I’ve ever heard from a tiny choir in this acoustically superb domed space.
What an amazing contrast this city is!
In The Palace festival Bulgaria
Flights and hotels booked – just a couple of weeks to go – Bulgaria here we come!
Étonnants Voyageurs Festival
Saturday May 26 2012
Xiaoping at Étonnants Voyageurs international festival of books and films in Saint-Malo, France
