Goodbye Blog! Hello Website!

With the arrival of our spanking new website, we've decided to say goodbye to the Kino blog.

You'll find all the news and screening debriefs on our new site:

www.kinosydney.com

It's your one stop site for access to Kino pics, Kino films, our useful Kino forum, facebook group, links etc.

Check it out!

Pics from Kino #5!

See all the pics on our Flickr page!

Kino #5 - Debrief!

Kino #5 took place Tuesday June 26th at Chalkhorse gallery in Surry Hills, bringing together 80 Sydneysiders, some filmmakers, some filmwatchers... and some in-between. See if you've been spotted: pics from Kino on our Flickr page.

Meat Pig kicked the evening off in style with what turned out to be their first live public appearance. Check out their wonderful tracks here.


Getting down to business, MC Matt Riviera introduced the first film of the night, a film made at Kino Manchester (a.k.a. Filmonik) entitled Modern Folk. This continues our Jamie Kennerley retrospective, following last month's Boy and Guitar and Stolen, which the Mancunian director presented to us through a specially recorded video intro.

Next we had the first ever film by Dom + Antho, Bizarre Love Quadrangle, a light-hearted 3-minute musical shot in Berlin.

It was followed by The Atomic Adventures of Jack Kerouac, by neon animator Jack Feldstein. It's Jack third film for Kino, and it's a superb follow-up to last month's Culinary Adventures of Jack Kerouac. The film was inspired - and written around - a Meat Pig song called Neutron Betty, the result of a fruitful encounter at Kino #4: well done guys!

Acclaimed filmmaker Stuart Clegg was next. He hadn't made a film but wished to present a short newsreel he'd unearthed. The Judd Brothers Disappearance took us back to 1979, to the scene of a mysterious crime committed in the back of Bourke. Eerie...


At the break our generous open bar served mulled wine (a perfect antidote to this distateful weather) made with love by co-host Marianne, as well as red, white and beer - accompanied by sushi and pastries.

As usual there were plenty of movie tickets up for grabs, including double passes for the eagerly anticipated Isabelle Huppert retrospective (merci Chauvel!), for new Australian feature West, and for the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose (props to Jack's spirited impromptu rendition of Piaf's Milord!).

After another hot track by guest band Meat Pig, we screened the first of our Kino challenges. Last month we asked if anyone wanted to begin a Choose Your Own Adventure Film. Nils Crompton raised his hand, vowing to shoot the first installment in time for Kino #5. Mission accomplished! Having being given 3 choices at the end of The Magic Dice, the audience voted for the rabbits to make a wish (I guess you have to see it). The film is now being sent to Kino Adelaide where local filmmakers have agreed to shoot the next episode... coming soon to Kino Sydney!

Next up was a drama by Guillaume Fortin entitled Laura. This short film was made in Brusssels in a Kino Kabaret. A Kabaret is like a Kino, except participants have between 2 and 6 days to make a film, rather than an entire month. Sydney will have its own Kino Kabaret as part of the 2nd Canadian Film Festival in November - more soon!

Each month we like to give willing participants a challenge or two. This time Liz put up her hand, allowing the audience to decide what film she should make for Kino #6. As with all democracies, ideas were put to the vote, and as with all democracies, only the ideas likely to make the world a better place were retained. Come back next month to see Liz present "a film about a horny blind girl"!


We finished the evening with another challenge. Last month Lawrence and his partner Michelle accepted to make an "exploitation" film about "butter", as per audience specifications. The result - Benny - was not for the faint of heart. One blogger called it "a daring insight into the world of a butter fetishist". We here at the Kino Blog thought it was pure filth, but then butter wouldn't melt in our mouths...

The evening was 100% Kino: all films shown on the night had been made specifically for Kino (watch them again on YouTube). If you'd like to make a film for Kino #6 (abiding by the rules), simply book your slot by emailing kino@kinosydney.com today.

See you next month!

Kino#5 brings home the bacon!

* Breaking News! *

Meat Pig will be playing live at Kino #5, Tuesday at Chalkhorse.

Meat Pig use modern day equipment to produce olden day music with leanings toward 1950's rockabily and european folk traditions. You can check out their latest tunes right here.

See you all Tuesday night!

Kino Sydney: now everywhere!

Kino Sydney has a new website. At the moment it's pretty basic but trust us, this Kino flower's about to bloom. Point your bookmarks to:

www.kinosydney.com

The address for the Kino blog has also changed, you'll now find the latest news at:

www.kinosydney.blogspot.com

Finally Kino Sydney is now available on YouTube. If you've presented a film at our Kino Sydney screenings, let us know so that we can link to it on YouTube.

www.youtube.com/Kinosydney

Kino #5 - June 26th @ Chalkhorse

Are you making a film for Kino #5? If so, don't forget to book your slot by sending Marianne an email: kino@kinosydney.com.

Bring your friends to Kino #5: link to this flyer left, right and centre!

For more info about Kino, go to MySpace or our temporary web page.

Kino #4 - Debrief!

Kino #4 took place May 15th at the wonderful Chalkhorse gallery in Surry Hills. It was a good mix of regulars and newcomers, amateur filmmakers and established professionals, people seeking to get involved or just there to watch.

Marianne was our lovely emcee for the evening, in which quite a few made-for-Kino shorts were shown to an appreciative audience.

Jack Feldstein presented his new neon animation, The Culinary Adventures of Jack Kerouac, finished just in time for Kino #4. Make sure you catch his new film, A Wondrous Film About Emma Brooks, a Dendy Awards finalist at the upcoming Sydney Film Festival.

We screened a couple of films by Jamie Kennerley, of Kino Manchester (a.k.a. Filmonik). The hilarious Boy and Guitar and Stolen were preceded by a short intro filmed in Paris the week before, in which Jamie invited Sydney kinoites to send their films to England.

Kino is a worldwide phenomenon, and once again we caught some great shorts made at Kino Montreal (the birthplace of the Kino movement): Olivier Gilbert's Interference and Simon Laganiere's Hands On, 2 Fingers Off.

Closer to home, Caroline Moise screened the world premiere of her new short, which she'd originally shot in Adelaide as part of Kino Adelaide's Kabaret, a series of 48-hour film challenges as part of the Adelaide International Film Festival.

During the break we ate sushi and cake, met future collaborators, had a beer with old mates and congratulated the brave Kinoites who'd made work specially for us that night. As usual, there were plenty of giveaways on the night, including movie tickets for Noise, My Best Friend and the Sydney Film Festival.

A couple of local filmmakers presented recently completed films: Seán Byrne screened An Dúshlán (Defiance), Dean Bertram was here to present his horror short Foresta Rossa and John Trefry introduced 4Word Thought's Impetus.

Finally two very brave members of the audience accepted filmmaking challenges. Nils took on the job of creating a Choose Your Own Adventure Film, which will then be sent to South Australia, where members of Kino Adelaide will continue the story. Meanwhile Lawrence accepted the challenge of making a film according to audience specifications. The crowd voted for a "an exploitation film" featuring "butter". Check out the wierd and wonderful results of these experiments at Kino #5 next month!

Check out the pics from the evening on our Flickr page!

We recommend: 60 Second Journeys

SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL – MOBILE MOVIE COMPETITION



The festival has added two new award categories to recognize screen stories made through the lens of a mobile phone.

One winner, decided by a panel, will take home winnings worth more than $10,000 including cash of $4000, while the People’s Choice winner, decided by downloads from a website, will be given a mobile phone valued at $649.

Entries must be no more than a minute long, based on a theme “transport yourself” and MMS’d to 044SYDFILM. Submissions accepted up until June 21, with winners announced at the Sydney Film Festival’s Gala Closing Night, June 23.

Read all about it here and watch the current submissions there. Come on Kinoites, represent!

Photos from Kino #4!

Check out pictures from Kino Sydney on our flickr site!

Kino #4 - May 15th @ Chalkhorse

Want to sign up to show a film at KINO #4 ?
Email Marianne at kino@thefestivalists.com asap.

For more info, visit our temporary kino page.

Kino #3 - Debrief!

KINO SYDNEY #3: DEBRIEF

Tuesday March 27th 2007 - 6:30pm

Could Kino be the victim of its own success? Audiences doubled for our second night at the lovely Chalkhorse gallery, with 70 film buffs joshing for position in our cosy screening space. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and thrilling to meet a whole new batch of Kinoites.

A few filmmakers premiered brand new films finished just in time for Kino #3. Frances Anderson followed up Kino #2's In Africa (which was recently selected for the St Kilda Short Film Festival following its world premiere at Kino) with the abstract horror of Hotel. David Gacs gave the experimental animation Hegemons, while Minto Macpherson presented his first ever Kino film, the animated Technik.

We screened recently completed films from Shane K. (H.R. Pufnsnuf and Sky High), Garnet Mae (Kung Fu Shuffle) and JackFeldstein (The Great Oz Love Yarn).

Finally we showed two films made at other Kino chapters worldwide. From Kino Montreal we had Stéphane Lafleur's Inventaire (Inventary) and from Kino Adelaide we screened Dave Wade's Detached.

In between films, there was a lot of networking going on, and a few projects for Kino #4 were being discussed around the room and outside on the sidewalk. The open bar served red wine, white wine, beer and soft drinks until stocks ran out, while our sushi and homemade cakes buffet proved v. popular. A big thanks to the people at Chalkhorse for the friendly venue!

If you're making a film for Kino #4, don't forget to check out the rules, and to inform us of your intentions by emailing kino@thefestivalists.com.

Kino #4 is May 15th at Chalkhorse!

Coming soon: the Kino Sydney website!
In the meantime check us out on Myspace or see pics of Kino #3 on our Flickr page!

We recommend: SFF website

We Festivalists can't get enough of film festivals. We've just wrapped the 2nd edition of Young at Heart and the Possible Worlds Tour. We're about to host Kino#3 and are already planning for a mystery event to be held later this year. It's exhausting work!

So today I thought I'd take some time off and see a movie at the French Film Festival, Christophe Honoré's amazing Dans Paris. It's my ninth film (and one of my favourites) at a festival with its share of great titles. But of course, the one we're all really waiting for is just around the corner... the Sydney Film Festival is back in June!

So you can imagine how excited I was to receive a text on my way home: a reliable source informing me that the new website of the Sydney Film Festival had just gone live! I ran the rest of the way home, and I wasn't disappointed. This is not just some cynical marketing exercise... Not only do we get a preview of the stunning visual identity for 2007 (including some moody photography and a sh*t-hot new logo), but more importantly, there's a sneak peak at the program.

We learn that there will be a spotlight on Turkey (which is great news as it's a national cinema I know very little about - and I'm sure I speak for many of us), a sidebar just for kids (though I suspect a few adults might sneak in too), a John Huston retrospective and a program of films about or made by people with a disability.

The World Views program will bring us some of the best titles in new world cinema - films sourced at major festivals around the world by Artistic Director Clare Stewart and programmer Jenny Neighbour. Manoel de Oliveira's Belle toujours (a sequel of sorts to Luis Buñuel's Belle de jour) is in there, as is Jia Zhang-Ke's thought-provoking Still Life. André Téchiné's Les Témoins gets an Australian premiere, and there's an intriguing South African comedy named after a curry bun. Just enough to whet our appetite.

What impressed me most about the website is that it draws you in, providing a behind-the-scenes glimpse at what it takes to put on an event of this scale. There are insights into the programmers' travels (which if expanded, would make for a very readable blog), a bit about the making of the visual identity, and you even get to know the (mostly) new members of the team a little (the instant noodle moment in The Host rocks). For all of us Sydneysiders, this is, after all, our festival.

The Festival takes place June 8th to 24th and the full program will be announced on May 9th. I, for one, can hardly wait.

-MR

Kino #3 - Mar. 27th @ Chalkhorse

Kino #2 - Debrief!

It was great to see so many lovely people at our first monthly night at Chalkhorse in Surry Hills last night. A few filmmakers premiered their spanking new films to much applause: Frances Anderson (In Africa), David Gacs (Bad Times), Michael Samer (The Astronaut) and Matt Robinson (Graff Dogs).

We also screened a recently made shorts by Mark Alston (Rockdale '83, Wok) and Loosie Craig (Mavis), as well as some films made in kino cells around the world: Matt Ravier's Love in the Black City (Manchester), Jules Saulnier's Kompetenz (Hamburg) and Justin Sprecher's Status Quo (Adelaide).

Snacks were served, lollipops were sucked on, lucky door prizes were won, and beer & wine flowed all night. A big thanks to the people at Chalkhorse for the fantastic venue!

See pics of Kino #2 on our Flickr page!

KINO SYDNEY #3

Tuesday March 27th 2007 - 6:30pm

CHALKHORSE Gallery, 56 Cooper Street, Surry Hills

$10 - free snacks, wine, beer and soft drinks - (free if you're screening a film)

Open your diaries and circle March 27th with a big fat magic marker: it's Kino #3!

Want to sign up to show a film at KINO #3 ?
Email Marianne at kino@thefestivalists.com asap.

For more info, visit our temporary kino page.

Kino #2 - Feb. 27th @ Chalkhorse

Kino #2 - Feb. 27th @ Chalkhorse

KINO SYDNEY #2

Tuesday February 27th 2007 - 6:30pm

CHALKHORSE Gallery, 56 Cooper Street, Surry Hills

$10 | free snacks, wine, beer & soft drinks | free if you're screening a film

Hot off having launched as a Kabaret at the closing night of Sydney's Canadian Film Festival, Kino Sydney lives on as a small underground film night, aiming to become the foremost platform for Sydney's independent filmmakers. These monthly screenings provide filmmakers of all levels and experience with the opportunity to bring their films to an audience outside of the selection-based world of film festivals

MAKE A FILM FOR KINO#2!

Kinos work like an open-mic night for filmmakers. The aim of Kino is to place film makers in an ‘act now’ mindset and to shoot and show their films as a way to learn about the craft… and have a good time. The result is an unpredictable cinema of fresh ideas and unforseen moments.

Filmmakers simply register by sending an email with a few details of the film they'd like to screen - length, format, and the Kino screening they'd like to show their film at. In return for this platform, filmmakers are required to ensure that both themselves and their films abide by some very clear rules:

· Films must be on miniDV or DVD;
· Films must be shown for the first time at Kino Sydney;
· Filmmakers must present their film on the screening date which has been agreed ;
· Films must not have been made for a student course (though films made by students are ok);
· Films must be ready to go - no rewinding or fast-forwarding!
· Films must bear the Kino Sydney name at the end, including the screening number in which it is shown (all our monthly screenings are numbered);

Breaking of any of the rules will result in a forfeit for the filmmaker: they must make a film, the subject or form of which will be decided by the audience on the night! A filmmaker must screen his or her forfeit film at Kino Sydney before showing another film.

Kino Sydney is part of an international movement of independent film and video makers - commonly known as Kino - whose motto is "do well with nothing; do even better with a little, and do it right now!". Born in Montreal, Kino has chapters in Paris, Hamburg, Vienna, Manchester, Berlin, Adelaide... and now Sydney!

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• To register to make a film for Kino#2: email kino@thefestivalists.com
• More information on The Festivalists: www.thefestivalists.com
• Pictures from Kino#1 - Kabaret: www.flickr.com/photos/the_festivalists/sets

We recommend: Kino Kabaret @ Adelaide Film Festival

Sydney had its first ever Kino Kabaret at the Canadian Film Festival, and is about to see the launch of a monthly Kino night for intrepid filmmakers, but our friends in Adelaide have been at it for a while already!

Filmmakers will have about 48 hours to write, shoot and edit a short film, shown during Kabarets on 25th & 27th of February and on March 1st and 3rd at the Electric Light Hotel, 235 Grenfell St, Adelaide. Fore more info, click here.

Adelaide's very own Kino chapter formed during the highly successful Kabaret held at the 2005 Adelaide Film Festival, and after many successful monthlies, KinoAdelaide is back with a Kabaret in 2007. Some participants in the Sydney event will fly to South Australia to take part: come cheer them on!