Whoa…it’s been a while since I posted and to tell the truth, I can’t really say why. There’s been slow and painful progress on this film but I have finally sorted out a way to finish it, thanks to the kind folks at Image Creative in London who are letting me finish the edit and online so it can make it to the Perth Festival and then on to great things.
I received a small grant from Screen South a UK govt film fund. Who saw the potential in this film where other funding organisations haven’t - It’s not something I would recommend to anyone to do - this independent film making thing. It’s fucking soul destroying (good thing I don’t have a soul eh …). I have had endless stupid meetings and conversations on the phone but to no avail, but it doesn’t matter because I WILL FINISH.
All creative endeavours especially those outside the mainstream are tough and when you scan the shelves of your local blockbuster at the billions of dollars invested in movies, well, not so many are good. This is an industry and it produces product aimed at creating profit. Funny how most of the really profitable projects are often the least supported and recognised. Star Wars for example (are you listening George Lucas - I know he’s an avid reader of my blog…) was thought to be a loser…oh and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest and Hoop Dreams. so what does anybody know ?
I have just received a copy of a letter from Bafta to the London Disability Arts Forum - sent on 14 March, about the whole “my films unacceptable” row. Here’s the text in full, the italics are mine:
Dear Peter
X’08 Disability Film Festival: The Last American Freak Show
I am following up on your conversation with Nik Powell (Head of the NFTS - National Film School ). It is not my preference to review the circumstances leading up to what appears to be a simple misunderstanding of the Academy’s motives, but it seems necessary at this point to clarify them.
The Academy, as a partner of the LDAF on this event, agreed to select an appropriate film based on the fact that it would offer a general introduction to disability and filmmaking. A DVD screener of the film was received three weeks before the date of the event, reviewed by two people, and a decision was made not on the particular merits of the film itself but in its suitability to serve as an introduction. Unfortunately, as no alternative film was offered, the event could not therefore take place. We did, however, offer you the venue free of charge to allow you to go ahead with the screening as a stand-alone event.
Our decision was based on creating the best possible event. if we have caused any distress in relation to this decision, the Academy sincerely apologises to the filmmakers and X’08.
The Academy understands the importance of being sensitive to particular areas of filmmaking, such as those involving disability, and knows that every decision it makes must be properly considered, fair, sufficiently informed and accountable. We are committed to constantly reviewing our procedures and will do so again following this situation.
The Academy continues to work with organisations on events regarding disability in filmmaking and accessibility. These include Channel 4’s ‘The Shooting Party’ filmmaking project for young deaf and disabled filmmakers on March 18 and an event with the BBC and the Broadcasting and Creative Industries Disability Network this summer, focusing on new media and accessibility. We are also keen to work with the LDAF on future events. Through these events, the Academy aims to encourage and raise the profile of filmmaking in this area and - contrary to recent reports - has absolutely no reason to discriminate against films dealing with disability or those made by disabled filmmakers. The Academy stands for excellence in the art forms of the moving image and remains steadfast in its support of all filmmakers.
I hope that I have gone some way to clarifying our position, and we look forward to working with you and LDAF in the future.
signed
Amanda Berry Chief executive.
I just thought people should see this letter - you can make up your own minds as to what it is saying….
What have I been doing ? I have no idea, mainly I have been cradling my head in my hands wondering how on earth I am going to get this damn film completed. It’s like banging my head against a wall, I should stop, but I can’t - I am convinced that I will knock the wall down and reveal the glowing heartland of endless film finance. Hands up everyone who thinks I am mad. Hmmm it’s unanimous then….time to think creatively about this problem, now where’s my balaclava?
On the positive side my good friend Jules just came back from recording some killer tracks in LA and, mark my words, she is going to be massive - check her out via the blog roll “little fish’.
So there’s an interview with me in a magazine called ‘Disability Now’, as oppose to what? Disability tomorrow, or today - the magazine is OK and the interview doesn’t make me out to be the total dork that I really am…Ha fooled ‘em again….the picture makes me look so brooding and serious, well perhaps It’s the real me
I went to Russia last week and it was sunny and warm. This morning I looked out of my window in England to see the yard covered in snow! It’s April ….. I blame the government, it must be their fault.
So here’s a picture of my back garden… The Freak Film will be screened at the Perth International Film Festival in July. Perth is in Australia and its stranded out on its own on the west coast. Of course the films not actually finished yet, but this is a minor detail that I am sure I can iron out….Ahem! Maybe….My wonderful friend Ben has agreed to design and make the graphics for me at a very reasonable and deferred rate. They will look really good. I will post examples as soon as I have some. I am trying to figure out how to finish the movie on a daily basis and it sure does stretch ones initiative, perhaps the next one will be a bit easier….?
Well. I haven’t blogged for a few days because we are having the Easter holiday (derived from ‘holy day’ in case you didn’t know). I find the enforcement of leisure, tiresome at best. But I did spend some of it working on electronic versions of the jug band music in the film - to create a new and varied feel to the soundtrack. It was rewarding, although I am working with a crazed lunatic from SF with a morbid fear of spiders and the ability to fellate himself (allegedly…). I have also been working on writing a movie idea, that’s not a documentary at all - but is a fictionalised account of a real story. Oh, and I caught the Easter bunny in a trap and really annoyed the neighbourhood kids by cooking him in a pie…I now have a lovely new easter fur hat,
which should keep me warm in Russia which is where I will at the end of next week.
Back in the land of the living after a fun virus. To-days post is the about the last two freaks from the films cast. I note that the Freaks have been performing at South by SouthWest in Austin Texas. I was a bit sad that I couldn’t make it out there, but storm lashed Great Britain is an exciting place to be….
Erik the Giant, is exactly that a giant. Standing 7′3” (223.52 cm for them what prefer metric) in his stocking feet, he’s tall, very tall. He joins the show in Eugene Oregon and strides along to LA where things don’t work out as expected. When he’s not doing this he is loitering around the woods of Oregon “using his size to his advantage”….I’m not quite sure what he meant by that !
HEA the Lobster girl. Like Jason she has electrodacty and has a lobster claw type hand. She is a friendly girl always willing to help out although with a tendency to get distracted and wander off. Onstage she tells stories and ties elaborate knots with a huge piece of rope. She is also the curator of the ‘Museum of Mutantstrosities” a tent full of exhibits about the history of the freak show.
So there you have it, thats the cast of my movie - lets see what happens next …..Oh, and i’ll be posting a new clip in a day or so …
I had lunch yesterday with the actor Mat Fraser, he’s a half well known disabled actor in the UK. Mat is into all things ‘freak‘ he had heard about the film and had written about it in the newspapers. He wanted to meet and chat, that seemed a good idea to me. So we did… Mat is performing at the Coney Island
‘super freak weekend’ in May - I might attend - it’s a big ol’ hoedown of ‘freaks‘ who play non-stop to audiences for a day or two. Although I am wary of the inverted snobbery of large parts of the ‘freak’ community to the so called normal world. It seems like a childish rejection of something desired, but so far out of reach that it’s dismissed as worthless. So, instead, dysfunction is paraded as something to be proud of rather than something to be coped with. No, I am not saying we should be ashamed of our ‘differance’ but I have never really been into the celebration of disability. Why? I suppose the clue is in the word, disability. I feel that’s exactly what it is, and to be frank, I would swap out my fucked up arm for a working one in an instant, were it possible. So the whole ‘cool cripple‘ thing is not for me, but I totally defend and support the ethics of the idea.
I made this film about a freak show because on many levels it challenges everyone to consider how they perceive, react, and approach, any other human beings. That doesn’t mean I automatically want to hop upstairs on a unicycle whilst juggling kittens and playing the banjo!
News on the film? Well, I dreamt I had a job collecting carts in a supermarket lot and if I save up really hard…..
which should keep me warm in Russia which is where I will at the end of next week.
is exactly that a giant. Standing 7′3” (223.52 cm for them what prefer metric) in his stocking feet, he’s tall, very tall. He joins the show in Eugene Oregon and strides along to LA where things don’t work out as expected. When he’s not doing this he is loitering around the woods of Oregon “using his size to his advantage”….I’m not quite sure what he meant by that !
Like Jason she has electrodacty and has a lobster claw type hand. She is a friendly girl always willing to help out although with a tendency to get distracted and wander off. Onstage she tells stories and ties elaborate knots with a huge piece of rope. She is also the curator of the ‘Museum of Mutantstrosities” a tent full of exhibits about the history of the freak show.
he’s a half well known disabled actor in the UK. Mat is into all things ‘freak‘ he had heard about the film and had written about it in the newspapers. He wanted to meet and chat, that seemed a good idea to me. So we did… Mat is performing at the Coney Island
