To get your slice of contemporary underground films in Perth, there’s only one festival you need to attend to get your fix.
The Revelation Perth International Film Festival showcases progressive short, feature, documentary, archival and animated works. Taking you a little deeper though, are the curated archival programs, which run alongside the films to contextualize and highlight important points in indie filmmaking.
In its 15th year, we had a quick chat with program director, Jack Sargeant about
Godzilla, his writing career and Revelation picks. We also got him to name his top five movie soundtrack moments, documentaries and books turned into films.
Anna Horan: What was your first experience with cinema?
Jack Sargeant: Probably watching the original Godzilla movies as a kid, I remember watching things like
Godzilla,
King Kong VS Godzilla,
Mothra VS Godzilla and also films like the 1975 movie
Doc Savage: Man of Bronze starring Ron Ely. Great stuff! It started a life long passion for film because seeing them was so exciting, so much of an adventure. Of course, as I grew up I saw much more, but the excitement of those movies stayed with me.
AH: Did this play a role in your career as cult film festival curator and writer?
JS: Well, I always loved the promise of seeing or experiencing something new. Movies, music, books or art or whatever can, at their best, offer this. So I guess that's a big factor. I guess I want to open up other people to cinema in the same way.
AH: Tell us about Revelation 2012.
JS: There's so much going on this year: we have a
Jeff Keen retrospective, we have
Georges Melies' movies with a live score, we have
Noko performing, we have some great movies. I hope it'll inspire and excite people. That's what you always hope; that people just come and see stuff they've never heard of and walk away stimulated. Even if they don't like works I'd like them to come away thinking about it. I'm very open to discussion and film is, in part, about that. The fact we have a well established talks program, and now academic program, at Revelation really reflects that wider culture of film - taking in everything from debates on pragmatic aspects of production to modes of communication, cultural debate, philosophical theories and just the limitless potential of raw ideas.
Top Five Soundtrack Moments:
1. Erasurehead:
I love the industrial-come-musique-concrete sound design in
Eraserhead. It's quite beautifully realised and incredible to just listen too (without watching the movie, the soundtrack album is great). David Lynch's soundtracks are always good of course, but
Eraserhead is something else.
2. Flaming Creatures:
The 1960s underground filmmaker Jack Smith had some incredible sound mixing going on in
Flaming Creatures, that combined lines of dialogue, old exotica records, screams and so on, a marvellous collage of sound.
3. Puce Moment:
Kenneth Anger's
Puce Moment has an incredible folk tinged soundtrack, a wonderful and very affecting song called ‘I Am A Hermit’, which I love.
4. Dawn of the Dead:
I think that the use of electronic music in Italian horror movies is great, I love Goblin who provided music for
Dawn of the Dead.
5. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:
Finally, obviously the spaghetti western soundtracks are all marvellously entertaining, you can't really talk about soundtracks without saying how great Ennio Morricone is.
Top Five Documentaries:
1. Fata Morgana:
Werner Herzog's work is incredible, I love
Fata Morgana although I'm still not sure if it's strictly a documentary, obviously his movie
Grizzly Man (2), all of his documentaries are amazing.
3. Blood of the Beasts:
I really like Georges Franju's 1949 movie
Blood of the Beasts, which is about the slaughterhouses of Paris, a fascinating film.
4. Titicut Follies:
Titicut Follies is a film I can watch and re-watch and remains deeply powerful, very moving, and also historically hugely important.
5: Mondo Cane:
Mondo Cane which was as exploitation documentary from the early '60s is another favourite, a film I can always watch.
Top Five Books Turned into Film:
1. The Maltese Falcon:
This is a hard one. I think you'd have to say all the film noir movies
The Maltese Falcon,
In A Lonely Place and so on, all are great books and movies.
2. The Night of the Hunter:
The Night of the Hunter based on the Davis Grubb novel is incredible, a true masterwork.
3. Fight Club:
More recently I enjoyed
Fight Club.
4. Radio Free Albemuth:
Last year we screened
Radio Free Albemuth based on the Philip K. Dick novel which was a great adaptation of a cult novel.
5. The Whisperer in Darkness:
This year we have
The Whisperer in Darkness based on the H.P. Lovecraft story which is great.
Revelation Picks:
Noko's sound, visuals and performance is incredible, very powerful, I'm looking forward to that. To see some of the films such as
The Caretaker on the big screen will be a great experience. To hear an audience scream and cheer
Yakuza Weapon and 25th Reich will be fun, nothing like that late night vibe. Also to see Jeff Keen's work is always a pleasure and that session will be great. I'm looking forward to seeing
Last Days of the Arctic and
Archeo on the big screen. But, to be honest, I'm looking forward to the whole thing, nothing beats seeing movies on the big screen.
Everguide is giving away a double pass to a film of your choosing. Just email win@everguide.com.au with which film you’d like to see, your full name and contact details. Revelation 2012 runs from Thursday 5 July to Sunday 15 July. You can check out the full program on their website.
WORDS: Anna Horan
PHOTO: via
Cut and Paste DVD