April 2009 Archives
James Bogle’s new feature, ‘Closed for Winter’, which opened nationally on the 23 April, was given a premiere screening at Cinema Paradiso on the 22, featuring a Q&A with the Perth-born-and-bred director. Local filmmaker Damien Spiccia was there for FTI.
The audience in attendance clearly had a lot of respect for Bogle, and many were young local filmmakers who have benefited from Bogle’s guidance and industry wisdom - including the evening’s moderator, Jimmy the Exploder.
The central figure in ‘Closed for Winter’, Elise (which, we discovered, was also the films working title for much of its lengthy pre-production), remains haunted by a tragic, unresolved event in her childhood. While the film draws on a sense of ominous mystery that is not uncommon in Australian film, it also employs a subtle focus on intimate yet identifiable everyday details that have characterised Bogle’s work since ‘Kadaicha’ and are especially prominent in ‘In the Winter Dark’, his last feature (Bogle later acknowledged himself as the ‘Winter’ guy).
Based on the best-selling novel by Georgia Blain, ‘Closed for Winter’ returns Natalie Imbruglia to the screen after a five-year absence - Bogle revealed it took her fifteen months of that time to even read the script. That’s peanuts in the ‘Closed for Winter’ timeline – Bogle has had the film on the boil for ten years, which he was surprisingly nonchalant about (David Ceaser’s new film, he told us, has been gestating for 22 years).
FTI member and WASA award winning Director James Bogle was named Western Australian Young Filmmaker of the year in 1981 and has since directed a number of films including Stones of Death, Mad Bomber in Love and his most acclaimed film, In the Winter Dark. James is currently working on The Darkest Hours and Sex Sells.
The audience in attendance clearly had a lot of respect for Bogle, and many were young local filmmakers who have benefited from Bogle’s guidance and industry wisdom - including the evening’s moderator, Jimmy the Exploder.
The central figure in ‘Closed for Winter’, Elise (which, we discovered, was also the films working title for much of its lengthy pre-production), remains haunted by a tragic, unresolved event in her childhood. While the film draws on a sense of ominous mystery that is not uncommon in Australian film, it also employs a subtle focus on intimate yet identifiable everyday details that have characterised Bogle’s work since ‘Kadaicha’ and are especially prominent in ‘In the Winter Dark’, his last feature (Bogle later acknowledged himself as the ‘Winter’ guy).
Based on the best-selling novel by Georgia Blain, ‘Closed for Winter’ returns Natalie Imbruglia to the screen after a five-year absence - Bogle revealed it took her fifteen months of that time to even read the script. That’s peanuts in the ‘Closed for Winter’ timeline – Bogle has had the film on the boil for ten years, which he was surprisingly nonchalant about (David Ceaser’s new film, he told us, has been gestating for 22 years).
FTI member and WASA award winning Director James Bogle was named Western Australian Young Filmmaker of the year in 1981 and has since directed a number of films including Stones of Death, Mad Bomber in Love and his most acclaimed film, In the Winter Dark. James is currently working on The Darkest Hours and Sex Sells.
A huge crowd turned out on Tuesday night for the PAC Script Lab, and if you've never been to this event you've been missing out.
Each time a new unproduced script is read out by a cast of actors. The event allows writers to get audience feedback on how there work is developing and hear how it sounds when read by professional actors. It's an invaluable experience and many of the scripts that have been performed at the workshop have gone on into production including the upcoming James Bogle film 'Closed for Winter'.
This time the feature film being performed was 'Sleeping Dogs Lie' by Andy Harmsen. Set in South Headland it follows the challenges faced by Jack, an unemployed young man who owes working girl Emmy a huge debt. Emmy in turn owes money to Mike, and their lives and fates are intertwined.
South Heldand is my home town, so I had no problem imagining the setting, or the people. But I struggled to connect with the main characters and their predicaments. The minor characters though were very funny and you could see there was some great character parts evolving. The thing you have to remember though is that you are seeing a work in progress, and most scripts have to go through many drafts before their ready for filmming.
A great team of actors had donated their time to the reading including Kym Bidstrup, Sam Devenport, Megan Holloway, Caroline McKenzie, Brendan Kerkvliet, Steve McCall, Karl Bin Rashid, Charlie Meader and David Lazarus. The three youngest actors Bin Rashid, Meader and Lazarus were the highlight of the night playing a trio of comical dirt bike kids.
There was a huge audience at the event including Tom Lubin, Ethan Marrell, Wade Savage, Burleigh Smith and Sarah Rosetti.
Each time a new unproduced script is read out by a cast of actors. The event allows writers to get audience feedback on how there work is developing and hear how it sounds when read by professional actors. It's an invaluable experience and many of the scripts that have been performed at the workshop have gone on into production including the upcoming James Bogle film 'Closed for Winter'.
This time the feature film being performed was 'Sleeping Dogs Lie' by Andy Harmsen. Set in South Headland it follows the challenges faced by Jack, an unemployed young man who owes working girl Emmy a huge debt. Emmy in turn owes money to Mike, and their lives and fates are intertwined.
South Heldand is my home town, so I had no problem imagining the setting, or the people. But I struggled to connect with the main characters and their predicaments. The minor characters though were very funny and you could see there was some great character parts evolving. The thing you have to remember though is that you are seeing a work in progress, and most scripts have to go through many drafts before their ready for filmming.
A great team of actors had donated their time to the reading including Kym Bidstrup, Sam Devenport, Megan Holloway, Caroline McKenzie, Brendan Kerkvliet, Steve McCall, Karl Bin Rashid, Charlie Meader and David Lazarus. The three youngest actors Bin Rashid, Meader and Lazarus were the highlight of the night playing a trio of comical dirt bike kids.
There was a huge audience at the event including Tom Lubin, Ethan Marrell, Wade Savage, Burleigh Smith and Sarah Rosetti.
