Restless.

One thing I’m finding hard at the moment is trying to work out where to next, in regards to filmmaking. I’ve got several projects I’m interested in but can’t work out which one to put my energy into.

This morning, I watch the soft trailer for Petra Joy’s new film “The Female Voyeur” and got all sentimental about being at the Berlin Porn Film Festival and meeting her.  Petra is one of the many wonderful women I meet and she has a highly unique erotic style. We both share similar passions for promoting a variety of bodies and sexual acts that your normally don’t see. I highly recommend you check out her work if you are interested in an alternative to mainstream depictions of sex!

It filled me with the desire to make my next erotic film “Screwed in Suburbia: Perfect on the outside, Perverted on the inside”.  Its about a young woman trying to escape suburbia and move into the inner city.

The other project I have been toying with is an adaptation of a book by Australian author Emily Maguire, “The Gospel According to Luke”. I first was introduced to her work through a book called “Taming the Beast”, which I would love to make into a film, but the subject matter is so taboo I think it would be extremely hard to find finance to make it! She also interviewed me for her book “Princesses and Pornstars:Sex and Power and Identity”. I still remember the day she contacted me and I put two and two together and realised she was the author of such a twisted and confronting book as “Taming the Beast”! You can guess I was absolutely ecstatic about being interviewed by her!

“Man Made” is a documentary I would like to make as a follow up to “Making it handmade” which is going to be about men, craft and what it is to be a man today! I’m slowly finding subjects and researching but I’m guessing, its going to be at least a two to three year project like “Making it Handmade” was.

So you can see there a lots of ideas but I’m finding juggling motherhood, working and making films to be overwhelming at the moment. I desperately need to update my website so have decided to focus on that and then try to work out where to go next!

Script writing and other computer bound tasks!

Happy New Year. I hope you all had a good break. Mine was spent painting the lounge room, which is now a lovely shade of yolk yellow and white!

After a recent heat wave here in Melbourne I am once again back in my office typing away. First port of call for the new year was two articles on The Berlin Porn Film Festival and some of the brilliant women I meet there, Candida Royalle, Petra Joy, Ovidie and Shine Louise Huston. This also meant I finally got to view the armfuls of film I brought back with me from The Berlin Porn Film Festival. A few stand outs were “Champion: love hurts” by Shine Louise Huston, a seriously hot and queer film for women that was beautifully shot, moody and brutal at times. It was great to see some real porn for lesbian rather than the high heeled hetero male fantasy we are served up in mainstream pornography. Petra Joy’s “art-core” Female Fantasies, great art direction and excellent sexual chemistry between the actors. Jennifer Lyon Bell’s serious sexy short film called Matinee and I revisited Ovidie’s Stories of Sex(es) which is still hilariously funny and sexy at the same time.

“The Band” is showing at the Athens Porn Film Festival this weekend, so if you happen to be in Greece please go out and check it out!

I’m still wading through the rewrite of “Talk to me”. I was hoping to have it done by the silly season but it didn’t happen so I have until the end of the month to make it work! Then I will sink my teeth into creating a trailer for “making it handmade” which should be up on Youtube sometime in Febuary, but I’ll let you know.

I must return to my re-writing and I promise to post more regularly this year than I did last!

Berlin Porn Film Festival wrap up and other news!

Its hard to believe that it has been a month since the opening night of the Berlin Porn Film Festival. After my last post, my days just became a blur of interviewing some of the amazing female film makers at the festival and being interviewed myself.

Some of the highlights were meeting Ovidie for France who made a hilariously funny film called “Histories de Sexe(s)”, great realistic sex scenes, excellent acting and dialogue that had me splitting my sides with laughter! She also interviewed me for a tv channel she works for in France and I interviewed her! Talk about mutual appreciation society and love!
Got to see a documentary about Petra Joy (the Joy of Porn) and her path to making erotic films, which made me realise what a unique group of women film makers where represented at the festival and how different our visions are compared to the mainstream industry! Petra also interviewed me for “Her Porn 2” which is the second in her series on women erotic film makers. She also held the Joy Award to support and encourage more women to make erotica. A film by Australian, Lousie Lush. Her film was a refreshing take on erotica and I hope this is the first of many films to come from her.
Another highlight was being interviewed for German cinephile magazine “Cinearte“. Sabine, who interviewed me was well researched and a joy to talk with. So if you are in Germany I think it will be coming out in jan 2010!
While, Berlin was a crazy 6 days I got to meet so many amazing people and I can’t recommend enough, despite the expense of going to an overseas festival the contacts you make face to face are priceless!
Since returning home, I have done an interview for Playboy in the Philippines! And if you speak or read french check out this article written by a lovely woman called Stephaine!
Also The Band was released on 17th November in the US! Its available through amazon and is uncut, much to my delight! While in Berlin I learnt that the R rated version of the film has been cut by 2mins!! Still haven’t seen the dubbed German version yet but looking forward to having on hopefully in my hot little hand soon! Still no word on an Australia distributor, dingers, I mean fingers crossed there will be one soon!
Much to my disappointment I have also discovered someone has ripped and illegally posted an edited version of The Band online. This saddened my greatly as being a small independent filmmaker who has spent the last three year of her life working unpaid on the film, my only way of recouping is through distribution deals and actions like that stop that opportunity. So whoever you are I am disgusted by your disrespect and people like you will kill independent film makers who offer an alternative to the mainstream cinema. Basically, I think you are an arsehole and if I ever meet you would like to make you a few new ones…and that’s being nice!

The road to Berlin!


Only 3 days to go and I will be heading off the Berlin Porn Film Festival!  I’m very excited and can’t wait to see The Band on the big screen.  I was just musing the other day how conservative Australia is and the fact that if The Band was screened in public here we would be committing a crime, yet in Berlin its all fine!  Mmmmm maybe I should move to Germany…..

Also, Sanne Kurz who is a wonderful and talented DOP (director of photography) who shot The Band wasn’t going to be able to make the screening as she will be off shooting in Prague. Boo hoo!  However, she contacted me yesterday to say she will be there!  YAH!  I’ve also got some close friend’s coming from London too, so I’m guessing we will be in for some good times.
However, I will have to limit my late nights as I’m a mad woman who can’t sit still, and have decided to shoot a documentary while I’m there!!  Well I figured all these amazing female film makers who are breaking boundaries and reinventing the adult genre, its too good an opportunity to miss.  I’ll be interview pioneering erotic film maker Candida Royalle, Art-Core creator and award winning film maker Petra Joy, photographer and artist Emilie Jouvet from France, Fetish film maker Julie Simone; and erotic star/ cross over mainstream actress and film maker Ovidie.  Its going to be a kick arse group of women!
Can’t wait.  Keep you eyes peeled here for the daily updates I’ll be posting while in Berlin!