Film Maker in Residence 2009
Posted by Cindi Drennan on April 25th, 2009
The Flinders Ranges Bush Festival was established in 2007 by community members with the aim of bringing visitors to the community, developing skills and generating awareness of the region’s culture and heritage. It was recognised that film culture was of special interest and this became a significant highlight of the new festival, with Flinders Flicks (a recently formed film development society) providing screenings and workshops to the festival program.
In the second year of the Flinders Ranges Bush Festival, Flinders Flicks created an opportunity for a filmmaker in residence project by sourcing $600 funding support through Country Arts SA and $800 contributions from local community groups. This small amount of funding enabled local oral historian and emerging filmmaker, John Mannion, to come to Quorn to conduct interviews and record unique aspects of the town during the Flinders Ranges Bush Festival.
The material John recorded was invaluable – from interviews with elderly residents about the early history of Quorn, through to vox pops about the town and festival. The 20 hours of material captured important moments and gave the community an exciting and interesting portrait of itself through film.
John Mannion presenting films at the Flinders Ranges Bush Festival 2009
It also gave John the opportunity to research and develop his skills as a filmmaker. It proved the value of partnerships between filmmaker and community and it was decided that the residency program of the Bush Festival should be developed further. The group has been in consultation with several filmmakers over recent months to develop a plan for filmmakers to participate in the 2010 festival.
The material that John Mannion collected during the 2009 festival has been digitized and is available for viewing or research. Material may be used for editing into films in future but at this stage no further projects are planned from it.
Film Screenings at the Quorn Town Hall