The Cinema Travellers - interview with Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya

Mischa (14) and Salvador (12) interviewed the directors of The Cinema Travellers screening at the Sydney Film Festival, Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya. The Cinema Travellers is an enchanting documentary that follows the travelling cinemas in India. This visual feast will open the world up to your family.

What was you favourite movie when you were a kid?

Shirley: I was forbidden to watch movies. They were the handiwork of the devil. Every Saturday night, there was a movie on TV but the children were bundled into bed for the Sunday church. Else we would be on the wrong side of angels on Judgement Day. One Saturday, I sneaked out of bed to watch the night movie. It was called The Angel. It showed me the benign side of the angels that the Bible had warned me against. I loved it!  

What do you like about filming?

Amit: It is a gift, to encounter moments in real life that you could not have imagined or written. 

Why did you want to make this documentary?

Cinema is a most profound form of human expression and we encountered it in its most distilled form here, in lives of showmen who run the travelling cinemas of India. 

What do you miss from your time travelling with the travelling cinema?

The sheer wonder of that world. 

Amit, your photos are beautiful. What type camera did you use for the photographs in the film?

Canon 5D Mark II

What countries have screened (or going to) your documentary?

We premiered at Cannes and recently had our Australian premiere at Sydney Film Festival. We're premiering in north American in the fall and have invitations from many countries around the world that we are considering. 

Do you make any friends when you were filming and are you still contact with them?

Yes! We remain friends with our travelling cinemas showmen and their lives and stories continue to inspire us. We have also made friends with people who have featured in our films before and are in contact with them. 

The Cinema Travellers

Lincoln P Jones - Creativity Project Speaker

Next week the Creativity Project - Big Fat Smile hits the MCA -  the conference aims to inspire creative thinking, collaboration and innovation on March 13th.  The event is for arts and cultural workers, arts therapists and  educators.

One of the speakers is Lincoln P Jones,  a published author at the age of 17. We loved that Lincoln is passionate about  writing and we wanted to find out more about what inspires him to write.  

Hi Lincoln....

What do you love about writing?
I love writing because it allows me to explore worlds that you can't touch.
Worlds that I create, and experience. And because it makes me feel good
about myself.

At what age did you discover that you wanted to be a writer?

I discovered I loved writing when I was about 8 or 9. I started writing
fan-fiction at first, but it wasn't really good. In fact a lot of the time,
I barely had my own ideas. But I slowly got better.

Who is your favourite author and why?
My favorite author is Brian Jacques. Firstly because his writing style
influenced mine, it helped my style improve. Secondly, he wrote several of
my favorite books, most notably the entire Redwall series.

You are working on  scripts for a  movie and TV series - Can you  tell us
more about them?

Well, one of these scripts is an adaptation of a 1975 Japanese TV show
called Akumaizer 3, because I loved the mythology and wanted to fully
explore this world Shotaro Ishinomori created. Whereas my TV series script
is set in a post-apocalyptic future. Think Redwall meets The Postman and
Arthurian Legend.

Do you have any more books on the way?

Why, yes. Though it's a secret, I will give you a hint about my next book -
it begins with the word 'Arrr!'. I am planning to have the book finished
before my 18th birthday in July, and I am looking for a publisher.
And I may also be working on a video game idea, though that one has
something to do with Bushrangers .

Who are three people that inspire you to be creative and why?

The three people that inspired me to be creative are my mother, she helped
me discover my talent. Then there's my stepfather, Jeff, with whom I've had
many discussions on ideas. And the third person was Julie, who helped me
learn some discipline and got me to focus on my writing. I'd also like to
toss a shout out to my Distance Ed English Teacher, Mrs Murphy, without who
I would've never got the courage to publish my writings as short stories.

What do you want people to take away with them from your talk at the
Creativity Project?

Hopefully it's to be creative, to never give up in what you honestly believe
in, and to make the best art you possibly can.

--
Registrations now open for the Creativity Project Big Fat Smile.
Full list of speakers

Interview with Finnegan Kruckenmeyer

After going along to Escape from Peligro Island  last month within the Kids at the House program my kids huddled together over the dinner table to come up with some questions  to ask playwright Finnegan Kruckenmeyer  .....

Are you writing a new kid’s play now? Can you give us clues on what it is about?

Hi Arts Rocketers – thanks for coming to the show and for sending me these questions. To answer number one, I am indeed writing three shows for kids at the moment:

‘Shadow Dreams’ is about two kids who wake one morning to find they’ve accidentally swapped dreams. ‘The Boy at the Edge of Everything’ is about one boy on Earth, and another out in Space who head for each other’s houses, and on the way go Universe-adventuring. And ‘Zachary Briddling Who Was Awfully Middling’ is about a wonderful grump who hates how normal he is. So he goes off adventuring, to lands filled with ogres and hairy things and flying things, places where he’ll be the strangest thing ever.

Then I’m also writing some plays for teenagers, and some more for adults – my head is feeling very full!

Where do you get your ideas for your plays from?

I think that my brain (just like anyone else’s) is full of hundreds and hundreds of ideas, and that if I sit long enough at a computer, eventually one shows up. It’s like how you draw a picture maybe – you start with a blank piece of paper, but you always end up with something unexpected. Writing’s a bit the same.

When you were a kid, did you want to be a writer? When did you start writing?

Yes – it’s something I’ve always enjoyed. And that’s partly because I’ve always enjoyed reading as well. Words are probably my second favourite thing (behind a few humans who I love very much) – and the way that you can play with them, and create worlds with them, and inspire laughter with them, and make people cry with them, is a very real magic which I am still trying to understand.

Favourite play when you were a kid? And your favourite play you have written?

My favourite play when I was nine was ‘The Postman’ by Theatre Velo. A man has to deliver the mail, but instead he rips open all the parcels… and whole worlds come out! I’m not sure if it’s only my favourite play as a kid, or my favourite play still to this day.

My favourite play of mine is always the one that I’m inventing at the moment, because even more than seeing a play performed, I love writing it. So Dream-sharing, Universe-adventuring and Zachary-Briddling-ing are my favourite things right now.

Are you scared of getting a bad haircut?

It’s a horror that I’ve experienced so many times, I don’t even really mind it anymore! Although nowadays my hairdresser is Renee, and she does a really good job. 

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In August, my eldest son and I will be heading along to see Finnegan's play Man Covets Bird.

Image from Man Covets Bird - Slingsby Theatre Company