CRITICAL
OVERVIEW:
Leo Berkeley's films are often concerned with exploring the drama of the everyday - the distance between characters' ordinary lives and their dreams, between one person and another, between the appearance of things and their significance. He is interested in the poetry of the mundane and dramatically unfashionable material like people's relationship to their work and the chores, commitments and routines which fill their days and limit their individual freedom. However, his approach has always been to deal with this material in a lively and entertaining way.
There is a clear French New Wave influence in his work, in the sense that he applies concepts from traditional Hollywood narrative to dramatic material which is far from Hollywood. Through both desire and necessity, he has explored the formal and stylistic possibilities of low-budget filmmaking - from extensive use of the visual and dramatic possibilities of urban locations, available light, improvised acting (Summer was a Blur), backyard post-syncing (Out of the Frying Pan), one-person crewing (Stargazers) and machinima (Ending With Andre).
See also
Selection
of media quotes
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Ending With Andre (2005, 12 mins) |
How To Change The World (2008, 75 mins) |
FILMOGRAPHY:
Watching
the Test Pattern
(1977, 10 mins, 16mm)
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Sleepwalker
on the Second Floor |
Sleepwalker
on the Second Floor (1978, 40 mins, 16mm)
Grils
(1979, 20 mins, 16mm)
Work Without
Pay (1981, 30 mins, 16mm)
The Bodyguard
(1984, 25 mins, 16mm)
Out of
the Frying Pan (1986, 20 mins, 16mm)
Summer
was a Blur (1989, 32 mins, 16mm)
Holidays
on the River Yarra (1990, 90 mins, 35mm)
Stargazers
(1997-99, 309 mins, DV)
Ending
With Andre (2005, 12 mins, Machinima video)
How To
Change The World (2008, 75 mins, DVCam)
The 57 Tram (2013, 5 mins, video) (https://vimeo.com/75683029)
The Q (2015, 7 mins, video) (https://vimeo.com/129880601)
Falling On Cement (2016, 3 mins, video) (https://vimeo.com/139756235)
600 Mills (2016, 25 mins, video) (https://vimeo.com/195516936)
DISTRIBUTION
& EXHIBITION OF FILMS:
The Bodyguard
Melbourne
Film Festival (1984)
Melbourne
Cinematheque (1986)
Longford
Cinema (support to the feature Valentina)
Brighton
Bay Twin Cinemas (support to the feature Ladies on the Rocks)
Out of
the Frying Pan
Melbourne
Film Festival (1986)
Melbourne
Cinematheque (1986)
St.Kilda
Film Festival (1987) (Certificate of Merit)
Summer
was a Blur
St.Kilda
Film Festival (1991)
Holidays
on the River Yarra
Cinema:
Melbourne
- Valhalla & Brighton Bay Cinema (Sept/Oct 1991)
Sydney
- Valhalla Cinema (Oct/Nov 1991)
Perth
- Lumiere Cinemas (May 1992)
Television:
Channel
4 U.K.
Channel
9 Australia
SBS
TV Australia
Foxtel
Video:
Columbia
Tristar Hoyts Home Video (Australia)
Festivals:
Cannes
- Official Selection in Un Certain Regard (1991)
Melbourne
(1991)
Edinburgh
(1991)
Montreal
(1991)
Tokyo
(1991)
Vancouver
(1991)
Chicago
(1991)
Annonay,
France (1992)
Valenciennes,
France (1992)
Umea,
Sweden (1992)
Stargazers
Festival:
Melbourne
Underground Film Festival (2005)
Ending
With Andre
Festival:
New York Machinima Film Festival (2005)
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The 57 Tram (2013, 5 mins) |
The Q (2015, 7 mins) |
The 57 Tram
(1) 2013 MINA International Mobile Innovation Screenings at the New Zealand Film Archive in Wellington, AUT University Auckland and RMIT University Melbourne.
(2) 2015 Visible Evidence, the international conference on documentary film and media, Toronto, Canada.
The Q
(1) 2015 MINA International Mobile Innovation Screenings, an international, peer-reviewed series of exhibitions (Wellington, Melbourne, Strasbourg and Skopje);
(2) Ethnografilm 2016 (Paris), an international festival of academic films whose main purpose is 'the systematic understanding of the social world’.
Falling on Cement
2016 MINA International Mobile Innovation Screenings (Swinburne University, Melbourne and New Zealand Film Archive in Wellington)
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Falling on Cement (2016, 3 mins) |
600 Mills (2016, 25 mins) |
SELECT
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
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shooting Work Without Pay (1981) |
"Signs
of life from moribund industry" by Rae Kaspiew, The
Australian; April 23, 1991
"Low
budgets, but directors aim for top prize" by Rebecca Lancashire,
The
Age; April 24, 1991
"Low-budget
first-timers favoured" by Tracey Pisk, Encore;
May 10-23, 1991; pp 1,4
"Holidays
on the River Yarra Review" by David Stratton, Variety;
May 13, 1991
"Australian-made
and over there" by Andrew L. Urban, The
Bulletin; May 28, 1991; pp 92-94
"Cannes
Film Festival Report" by Louise Keller, Moving
Pictures International; July 18, 1991
"Australia
at Cannes" by Jan Epstein, Cinema
Papers; Edition 84, August 1991; pp 32-33
"Dreamy
journey along the River Yarra" by Greg Burchall, The
Age EG; September 27, 1991; page 14
"Holidays
on the River Yarra Review" by Adrian Martin, Business
Review Weekly; Volume 13, number 38; September 27,
1991; page 112
"Holidays
on the River Yarra Review" by Tom Ryan, The
Sunday Age; September 29, 1991
"Holidays
on the River Yarra Review" by Jan Epstein, Melbourne
Report; October 1991; page 13
"Holidays
on the River Yarra Review" by David Stratton, The
Australian; October 12, 1991
"Tokyo
calling" by Sandra Hall, The
Bulletin; October 15, 1991; pp 103-104
"Holidays
on the River Yarra Review" by Tony Rayns, Vancouver
Film Festival Program; 1991; page 26
"Holidays
on the River Yarra Review" by Karl Quinn, Cinema
Papers; Edition 86, January 1992; page 55
"Holidays
on the River Yarra Review" by Mark Naglazas, The
West Australian; May 26, 1992; page 31
"Holidays
on the River Yarra" Guest Reviewer by Belinda McClory, News
from Cinemedia; July 1999; page 3
"Best
Of Movies" by Leigh Paatsch, Herald
Sun Guide; Wednesday, October 23, 2002; page 13
Selection
of media quotes
©
Leo Berkeley, November 2017.
Leo Berkeley's website
Back
to Melbourne independent filmmakers index page
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