Young Filmmakers Team Up to Win

4 June 2010

Organisation

Former and reigning Young Filmmakers of the Year, Maziar Lahooti and Mike Hoath, have teamed up to receive $40,000 in film funding, as they progress to the final round of the Doorpost film project

The local filmmakers are now in the running with four other teams to win the US Film Competition’s largest share of the $150,000 prize money or an online audience choice award of $10,000. Winners will be announced at the Nashville Premiere, 12 -13 November 2010.

MAZ and MIKE talked to FTI about how they progressed in the prestigious competition.

Can you tell us a little bit about the short film which was selected in the top 20 and the way you collaborated on it?

MAZ : The short film that got us into the top twenty was a film I wrote and directed called The Luger Story this was the first festival I submitted it too.

Luger story was a short film about two German soldiers during WW2 who were taking a break from the war.

The screenplay you then both wrote together as part of being top 20 finalists, what were you aiming for with this story?

MIKE: Initially when I first wrote the script it was about a neglected kid who is forced to hang around a bowling club by herself all day while her dad gets drunk. She’s desperate for a friend so when this new kid comes to town she tries to impress him and tells all these lies. They snowball out of control and ends up landing her in a pretty serious situation.

How was the writing process? Were you based in different cities using virtual contact only?

MAZ : I was in Sydney and Mike in Perth and the mentors in LA, so we had phone conferences with them and then sat down and wrote and sent the drafts back and forth. I will be coming back to Perth to shoot the film though. Which will happen late July.

MIKE: I wrote the first few drafts and then Maz took over and wrote the last couple. We would discuss everything over the phone. Maz and I are generally on the same page when it comes to what we think makes a good story so it has been a pretty smooth ride.

You are now off to LA to attend the commissioned workshop together with the other 5 commissioned screenplay teams. What are you hoping to get from this workshop/ time in LA?

MAZ : the idea is to lock down all the time slots they want stuff delivered by, discuss what mentors we may want for the project etc. They are organizing a few sessions with whoever we manage to get as a mentor. So I gotta submit a list of Aussie film makers and they will pay them and organize for a few conferences with them so we can discuss the story.

Then you’ll have about a month in July to shoot before submitting your rough cuts. As veterans for the Doorpost Film Project, can you tell us how this process is beneficial to your final film’s competitive chances? And as veterans, what have you learnt from a previous final that will improve your chances this year?

MAZ : Well when we were part of the festival in 2008 they had a stupid voting system. Which they have changed. Now judges form up the main part of the vote and audience a minor part. Which is overall better cause it keeps the competition from being a popularity contest.

The fast turnover although stressful and hectic, is also a good thing cause you don’t get too much time to over think and in the past this kind of process has yielded the best results. For me anyway.

What challenges do you see ahead in the journey from commissioned screenplay to completed film?

MAZ : The casting. This will be by far the most challenging film for me on a character and performance level. It’s a big cast of kids, so it will be tricky. As well as that the tone of this film has to be pretty specific since it’s a fairly sentimental story with a few harsh twists mixed in with some cool humour. Basically we don’t want it to turn into some overly sentimental fluff fest, but it needs to be firmly rooted in truth so we can get away with the funny stuff without it turning into a comedy.

How has Doorpost assisted the development of your filmmaker career/ craft?

MIKE: The whole Doorpost experience was the highlight of my year in 2008. Just heading over to the US and meeting lots of cool people made it worthwhile.

MAZ: Like every film you make, this film has the potential to push us to the point where we get to make a feature. Also, the finished film will receive big screenings for industry which are put on in the states, and Doorpost submit the films to lots of big festivals.

In the past Doorpost assisted us in making Crossroad which is one of my more solid shorts so I’m pretty grateful to these guys. They are basically like an international FTI for short film makers so it’s great to have more options for funding.

Image: The Luger Story was the first round winning film for Maziar Lahooti in The Doorpost Film Project 2010.