Drama on and off the screen

FOR budding filmmaker Simon Chen, there were a number of dramas while making his short film for the Celluloid Soup film festival. His entry, The Screw and the Wrench, has been selected as one of 12 finalists for this year’s competition, which will be announced later this month at a gala event in Melbourne.

Chen said it took five weekends to shoot the film and two months in post-production, interrupted by a trip to Israel.

“The film did kick off with a dramatic twist when my co-producer suddenly pulled out of the project right after we had developed the storyboard, but some encouraging words from friends pushed me to achieve what I thought would never happen,” he said.

“Surprisingly, there were no dramas during the shoot, which is scary in itself as the first thing I was taught in cinematography class was to always expect something to go wrong on set.”

Schoolteacher Amanda Teitel is also a finalist with her entry Yes, But is he Jewish?. “I decided to make this film with no real experience, no drama background, other than watching movies and being a couch critic,” she explained.

Teitel says her film is a tongue-in-cheek look at the typical Jewish mother and the neurosis associated with finding someone Jewish for her daughter.

Teitel has been producing a video blog of her filmmaking experience on the AJN website.

One True Love is Ben Cunningham’s first entry in Celluloid Soup. It was filmed over 10 days in Hong Kong and China and stars Melbourne singers Danny Segal and Paul Glass.

“We shot 27 hours of footage and it took three weeks to edit it down to 25 minutes,” said Cunningham.

“The day of the ‘gig’ performance, one of the backing singers came down with gastro and missed all rehearsals up to the gig. She made it for the opening with five minutes to spare … and then proceeded to party all night!

“And our cameraman bought a very expensive pocket digital video camera when we first arrived in Hong Kong. We shot all our late-night hijinks and some interviews. It was left in a taxi and was never recovered.”

Feed Your Appetite marks the debut entry by director Ezra Silman. “There were not really any dramas making the film, but we didn’t take into consideration how many toilet breaks the actor playing Eli would need because of the many takes of him drinking water. It became a running joke,” he said.

Ben McGill’s film, The People of Dybbuk, is about a scholar — through his revelations of a mischievous dybbuk — questioning the genesis of his being.

He enlisted the help of a five-year-old girl named Erin for the film.

“Filming was reduced to five-minute sessions, but Erin did outstanding performances. Time was a major issue in every way, using borrowed cameras, trying to edit at night, the ever-present problem of an ever-filling hard drive meant that the final version was not even previewed to get it in on time,” he said.

“It has been a great experience, thanks to the people I have met and worked with in the process, even if at times I brought myself to the boil.”

Love: Matters marks Jacki Bloustein’s debut entry in Celluloid Soup and took about four months to produce.

“This is the first time I have picked up a camera, the first time I learned about directing, producing and sound,” the Adelaide filmmaker said.

“There were many dramas. One of my actors for Treife: Torn rang up sick an hour before shooting, and asked if I was coming back to Adelaide any other time.

“Luckily, my neighbour decided to step in and try to learn the lines in three hours while we put the shoot on hold for me to have a panic attack.”

But not everyone faced crises. Byron Bay filmmaker Naomi Rubinstein said: “My film Lentilicious took me three days to make. I knew exactly what I wanted.”

This is Rubinstein’s third time entering Celluloid Soup. Last time, her short film entry won the best documentary category.

Celluloid Soup producer Adam Krongold, who entered a film in the 2002 festival titled Not Without my Sheitel, said: “The idea is to have fun and present an exciting festival of films on the Jewish theme of Kosher Lovin’.”

The Celluloid Soup short film festival will be held at The Astor Theatre, St Kilda on Thursday, October 21 at 8pm. Tickets: JMA on (03) 8534 3600 and Astor on (03) 9510 1414. Enquiries: www.celluloidsoup.com.

Winning recipe

THE Celluloid Soup film festival has been a fixture on the Jewish Museum of Australia’s calendar since 1998.

This year’s theme is Kosher Lovin’ and the films by the 12 finalists will be screened at a gala event in Melbourne at The Astor Theatre, St Kilda on Thursday, October 21.

The winning entry will receive a prize of $2000, while second prize is $750 and third prize is $250. There’s also an Open Channel award for an emerging artist.

All the finalists’ films — which come from Victoria, NSW and South Australia ‚Äî will then be posted on the AJN website, giving readers the chance to vote for their favourite, with the winner receiving the inaugural AJN Readers’ Award.

Celluloid Soup even boasts an Oscar winner among its past entrants — 2008 Academy Award winner Eva Orner had an entry in the 1998 competition.

DANNY GOCS