Chris
Windmill
b. February 9, 1959, Melbourne,
Australia
BIOGRAPHY:
Chris
Windmill studied film at three local institutions: Rusden College,
Swinburne, and the Melbourne Super 8 Film Group, the latter being
the most productive learning environment. He thanks their eminent
professors. He has made over 20 films, some of which have received
that great and transient prize: the audience seemed to like them.
SBS even bought a couple.
He has worked for years and years as
an editor for the ABC in both Melbourne and Darwin, and is terribly
grateful to have an income in this indifferent world.
CRITICAL
OVERVIEW:
Adrian
Martin has described the films of Chris Windmill as: "Quietly
mad, his films begin from the charming, irritating minutiae of
everyday experience - shopping, cleaning shoes, hanging out the
washing, going for a picnic in the park - and enlarge them into
magnificent, terrifying obsessions. Windmill's ever-modest heroes
and heroines live for no higher purpose than to fill out the days
and minutes of their ordinary lives. As a consequence, every imaginable
flight of poetry is concentrated in these little activities."
Queen's
Birthday (1979, 5 mins, 16mm)
Broadcast
in Australia on SBS.
A
Nocturne (1982, 6 mins, 16mm)
Monster
Beetle (1983, 6 mins, Super 8)
The
Miracles of Hilda (1984, 13 mins, Super 8)
Winner
of the Kodak Award for Super 8 at the 1987 St Kilda Film Festival.
Beards
of Evil (1984, 10 mins, 16mm)
The
Vacuum (1985, 6 mins, 16mm)
Mystery
Love (1985, 5 mins, 16mm)
Mystery
Love
The
Lime Drink (1985, 11 mins, 16mm)
The
Foxicle (1986, 6 mins, Super 8)
The
Bowel-Houndromat (1986, 5 mins, Super 8)
Congratulations
Gazelle Head (1987, 20 mins, Super 8/Video)
The Maybe
Cage (1987, 5 mins, Super 8)
Mr.
Benevolent (1988, 13 mins, Super 8)
Heresies
Ancient and Modern (1989, 13 mins, Super 8)
The
Shimmering Basset (1989, 30 secs, 16mm)
part
of the "Personal Ads" project shown on Channel 9 in
Perth, co-produced with Anne-Marie Crawford (now Marie Craven),
featuring films by Dirk de Bruyn, Stephen Cummins, The Marine
Biologists, Maj Green and Ewan Cameron, Bill Mousoulis, Anthony
Foot.
The
Cuttock-Heads
The New
Shoes (1990, 8 mins, 16mm/Video)
Broadcast
on SBS.
The Cuttock-Heads
(1990, 6 mins, Super 8)
Broadcast
on SBS.
Eiffel
Tower Sponge Film (1991, 4 mins, Super 8)
O Elusive
Sparrow (1992, 10 mins, Super 8)
The Buffs
(1994, 7 mins, Betacam SP)
produced
by Sarah Johnson (now Sarah Zadeh)
Broadcast
in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
The
Birds do a Magnificent Tune (1996, 26 mins, 16mm)
produced
by Sarah Zadeh
Winner
of the succinctly titled Kino Cinemas Award for Creative Excellence
in an Australian Short Film at the 1996 Melbourne International
Film Festival.
Satan's
Machine
Why do
I Bother (1996, 9 mins, Super 8)
Actual
Events Which Have Taken Place (1999, 5 mins, Mini-DV)
Winner
Best Direction at the 1999 Darwin Fringe Festival
Postcode
0820 (1999, 2 mins, Super 8/Video)
made
with Jennifer Pinry Ross
A Woman
is Doing the Dishes (1999, 15 mins, 16mm)
Satan's
Machine (2000, 5 mins 30 secs, 16mm/Video)
made
with Jennifer Pinry Ross
The New Shoes (1990, 8 mins)
The Cuttock-Heads (1990, 6 mins)
SELECT
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The
Buffs
"Don't Sulk
Let's Frolic" by Chris Windmill, Cantrills Filmnotes, No.
57-58, December 1988.
"Barberblader?
Nei, Super 8 (Razor blades? No, Super 8)" by King Harald V of
Norway, Oslo Aftenposten, February 9 2001 (made possible
with the generous assistance of the Centenary of Federation Fund).
