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Film Details - Anthony Buckley Productions , 1993 - Kanopy , 2012
Producers:
Anthony Buckley
Carol Hughes
Production Companies:
Anthony Buckley Productions
Finance Organisations:
Australian Film Finance Corporation
Southern Star Entertainment
Director of Photography:
Geoff Burton
Editors:
Wayne Le Clos
Production Designers:
Stephen Curtis
Composer:
Carl Vine
Cast:
Russell Page (opening credits dancer); Lovin' the Spin I'm In - Lex Marinos (Dimitri), Dina Panozzo (Voula), Riccardo Natoli (Spiro); Choo Choo Choo Choo - Tracey Moffatt (Ruby Morphet), Banula Mrika, Shaun Saunders; Mawuyul Yanthalawuy (Maudie), Les Foxcroft, Auriel Andrews (Older Ruby); Mr Chuck - Jack Charles (Rick), Diana Davidson (Shelley), Ben Kennedy (young Rick, aged 11), Desarae Morgan (Rick's first sister, aged 4), Daphne Byers (Rick's first sister, aged 9 / Rick's second sister, aged 5), Lavina Phillips (Rick's second sister, aged 10), Jordan Hammond (Blonde Boy).
Release Dates:
1. Premiered at the 1993 Toronto Film Festival (Canada) on 11 September 1993. Released in Australia on 28 October 1993. The film has also be exhibited at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, 1993 Jump Cut Festival (Perth) and 1993 Sydney Film Festival.
2. Released on videocassette format in 1993 by Southern Star Entertainment (Distributed by Ronin Films). Re-released on DVD format in 2001.
3. Presented at the 219 Sydney Film Festival (9 June 2019).
Location:
- Charleville, Queensland
Awards:
- Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival (1993), Best Original Soundtrack - Carl Vine (winner)
Notes:
1. Script editors: Geoff Weary and Adrienne Parr.
2. Running times: 'Mr Chuck' (24 min.), 'Choo Choo Choo Choo' (29 min.) and 'Lovin' the Spin I'm In' (29 min.)
3. The debut feature from Tracey Moffatt and the first feature film to be directed by an Australian Aboriginal woman, the narratives (which Moffatt heard as a child), are structured in a non-linear form and reflect a multicultural society. The collagist approach to narrative, together with the hyper-real images, bring a surreal edge to the stories. The stylised images were mostly filmed in a studio to evoke the work of painters such as Russell Drysdale and Jeffrey Smart, a stream of Japanese cinema represented by Kobayashi's Kwaidan (also a trilogy of ghost stories) and the Hollywood musical. In the course of the stories Moffatt's richly varied mise-en-scene and soundtrack shifts between different forms of address requiring the viewer to imaginatively engage with the unpredictability of the narratives.
