kino loves object.

S is for Spots from Lilith Edana on Vimeo.

One week ago was Kino #39 a special Kino Loves Object event, held at Object Gallery. It was a design themed Kino, corresponding with an exhibition @ Object dealing with typography, motion, art and design and in a building extremely interesting itself, design wise- big shiny white walls, a ship like beam filled roof and a sort of circular shaped floor. Pulling an eclectic crowd, not unusual for Kino, except this time, a little closer to Oxford Street and a little more artsy (held in an art gallery afterall!), there were definitely some new faces and hopefully Kino recruits.

The lovely Rosie, treated us to some pre-ep songs, ever graceful and almost cinematically capturing. An onslaught of design themed films screened on the night to our delight.

Above you can see our (Alexander Ps and mine) contribution to Alphabetography, a collective challenge where filmmakers choose a letter each and make a 10 second clip representing the letter and a corresponding word using motion and typography. Resulting in an A- Z of letter inspired stop motions, animations and creative films made collaboratively in the Kino spirit! Obviously we chose S is for Spots...

Alex and I brought along KSZ#3, the kino sydney official rag, hand sprayed front covers and filled with juicy bits and pieces from Kino-ites for Kino-ites.

You can see two of Victoria Waghorn's pieces (who deserves a special mention for helping us put this one together on a rather tight schedule) ConFiction: the cat with two bowls and Is Jack Feldstein ET? on her blog. Dan Simmonds also reviewed Kino Sydney's new official beer Beard and Brau: Golden Paw on his charming blog for your free readership.

Otherwise you missed out on the top secret recipe for Ang's buttermenthol cookies (tried and tested at Kino, and Ohhh myyy lordddyy!!!) new feature: Sprocket love with romance tips such as: "If she's not in the mood for lovemaking, simply weep. This shows her you are a sensitive man and ready for your love", Puzzles, Plots and Funk- a code to crack and artwork by Liam O'shea, Snoodie's Wacky World of Wills and Burke (returning feature:For the Love of VHS) and the ever hilarious The Owls Are Not What They Seem- Laura Palmer's Psychic Insights (which if you are good little boys and girls will be making an appearance in blogworld because it was a little hard to see in the final print). Plus reviews, upcoming events, kino news and hilarious tidbits.

Kino Sydney Zine (KSZ) is by Kino-ites for Kino-ites so if you'd like to submit anything at all Kino or otherwise related that you'd like to share with your pals please let us know. We'd love to hear from you on how we could improve the zine. We are considering making an online issue/blog but are very time poor- if anyone would like to come forward to help us in compiling the zine online or offline we'd greatly appreciate it (we aren't professional designers/editors etc and need all the help we can get!).

Watch out for issue #4! and submit now!

kinosydneyzine@gmail.com

Tweet @kinosydneyzine

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The next Kino will be KABARET! Get on the boat!

AUTISTIC BOY GRANTS WISHES

Last night, Alex and I agreed to make a vignette/mini- film entitled AUTISTIC BOY GRANTS WISHES. We considered making FOOD STARTS EATING PEOPLE or ANCIENT ALIEN PYRAMID SCHEME but those were already taken. GOVERNMENT IS AUTISTIC BOY, HOUSE ACTUALLY ALIEN ZOO and DARK LORD REASONABLE all looked intrigueing plots also. But the endless possibilities for a snippet entitled AUTISTIC BOY GRANTS WISHES makes us feel giddy.

What am I on about?

It will all start to make sense soon ( I hope):

"So this is a collective call-to-arms then. Except we’re not making a film. Or not making a single film.

What I’d like to make is a multi-narrative, parallelised and cross-referenced matrix of vignettes that will be produced by a number of individuals or by individual teams and then collated into a final interactive document/artefact/filmscape(?).

Which is really an overly complex way of saying that I’d like to make this:"

Punk Monk, Dermot is experimenting with the idea of "communal" filmmaking via 42 vignettes which work alone but also splice together to form a larger puzzle. These "42 Essential 3rd Act Twists" (Dresden Codak) play on tradition western narrative structures (with bizarre newspaper story- like headlines) w ith twisted, silly, bleak, confusing, hilarious, wistful and perhaps disturbing undertones. Dermot wants everyone and anyone to have a go at bringing one alive.

In the spirit of Kino, where many have already taken up the collective challenge, the idea is to create and share, rather than select based on a rigid set of standards such as skill set. This creates a space where a whole range of thematically and aesthetically different films from a wide range of professional, even award winning filmmakers to first timers, dabblers and "amateur" filmmakers who all share some level of passion for the visual form.

I give kudos to Dermot, who doesn't know where the project will end up but is all embracing and prepared for anything to come out of it.

Check out the rest of the details and get involved- seriously, you actually can.

Kino Feels Like Home Again #Kino31

What went down at Kino #31?, these are just the photos.

Have you figured out what Kino is all about yet?

Where are all the filmmakers? Kino #31

I can't really put into words how Kino has changed my life. I was first encouraged to come along by one Kate Taylor, who I'd worked with on one infamous film set in early 2008. It took a few Kino's before I decided to take up the recommendation, the constant talk of it whirring through my new set of, what is now known as Punk Monk, pals. I didn't know what to expect of this "Kino" constantly reiterated as, "no, not Keno, KINO!" It certainly wasn't a bunch of old gamblers sitting in a stinky pub watching numbers come up on a screen and drinking away another loss.

No, Kino doesn't take that risk- a good time is always guaranteed. Kino does have drinks however, and a crowd and a big screen. Held in the cool, underground Fraser Studios, behind the Clare, Kino is a night of open mic film screenings, friendly film makers or at least film-friendly folk who enjoy hanging out in a warm, creative atmosphere where a cover charge gets you whisky or beer all night and crepes assembled on the spot by awesome volunteers like myself. You can bring a film you've made or just come hang out, and though there are rules, most people almost want to break them with the punishment a challenge film to be delivered at the next event.

With film culture and most of what is cool, so underground here in Sydney, groups such as Kino (which operates in cells internationally) are so important in helping people connect to like- minded folk. Kino has given me what are now my best friends and colleagues and motivated me to make my own films and run events. It really is a fabulous vibe! Come along (the next one is next Mon) and see what its all about- it's a Monday well spent indeed!

Photos of Kinos past by Victoria Waghorn and the Kino tribe.

LurkED

Kate Taylor (Punk Monk) The Sleeper

(to be) Lurked:

Where an individual feels compelled to act on a political issue within his or her immediate community or global community as result of experiencing another individual(s) act of anti-humourless political activism/performance. Eg. 'I/they have been 'Lurked'.

Some punk monks and a bunch of others crammed into the Red Rattler last night and got lurkED for the launch of The Lurkers new album ‘Shoot to the Moon’ and to send them off to Germany and then to the UN Climate Conference and beyond!

They promised a mighty hoedown suitable for your grandmother, your sister, your lover and any other and a hoedown they certainly delivered on all fronts. Punk Monk featured some shorts from their collection and Kino friend’s selection and got every comfy for the first act Emma Davis. An uplifting and activating support act -though no-one was prompted to jump up and start booty shaking, there was a lulling quality to her vocals that allowed the audience to sit back and be drifted away into a comforting reverie.

The Lurkers took to the stage, double bass, banjo and guitars in hand, voices aready (although Martin forgot his, with his health) smiles upon their faces staring into a crowd of about 200 people who almost couldn’t contain themselves with excitement. These guys have a serious following of very cool, supportive and eclectic fans, friends or to-be’s of each. I haven’t been to many folk/bluegrass shows before but there is a particular presence in the room- an embracing openness and intimacy- I felt like I was hanging out with a huge family (and every generation was counted for from infants’ to grandpappas’).

In sing-a-long style, with interludes of folk jokes (!) and in-band banter, it was hard not to either clap, tap your foot or bop your head (or dance wildly beneath the stage). The Lurkers don’t take themselves too seriously, emphasizing which songs were about Climate Change ("yes, another about Climate Change!", they’d add cheekily) and attaching anecdotes to each song such as discovering that sulphur may be added to the air to counter "the bad stuff in the air" turning the now blue sky white and how that “scared the shit” out of them or how at a festival gig someone suggested, in the prelude to a song about Nick’s grandmothers Alzhiemers that perhaps each time she heard a joke she’d heard before she was just “being polite” and not mentioning it. These personal touches, really helped the audience to connect to the songs and added something special to the gig for people to relate to. They certainly put everything they have into their sets and then some, coming back after an already epic bill to give us more (more, more!)

At the end of the night, the beautiful vibe in the room was presented physically in the branches of leaves, scrawled with well wishes for The Lurkers for their journey to Copenhagen and hopes for the future of our planet written by those present. What better way to set off towards hectic Copenhagen (where a rumoured 30,000 youth climate activists will join Martin, Mithra and Nick) then with this group of Sydneysiders cheering you on all the way?

Look out for The Lurkers in Copenhagen with two giant blow up kangaroos and a lot of heart.

You can follow them here and here.

For more information or to get a copy of the to-be-zine created from the leaves of the wish tree or if you have photos/questions about/love letters regarding the night, we’d love to hear from you- give me a bell: clare@punk-monk.com

Photos: Clare and Alex.