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BlogsIn Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 23 Jan 2012
The happy saga of Cowbird
Cowbird is a new online storytelling and diarising tool for those fully embracing the publicly lived life through social media. It’s a site where users can post diary entries with stills, audio and text, and in doing so become part of a community of others doing the same.
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 12 Jan 2012
The king of storytelling
Ira Glass is a rock star. So say Sydneysiders, who queued around the block to get in to the sold out event at the Sydney Festival last night. A second show immediately afterwards assuaged all those who missed out in the first ticket-buying frenzy. I couldn’t help beaming as I surveyed the crowd, all of whom were here to see not some pop star with an album to spruik but this unassuming, nasally-sounding guy who does radio. Radio!
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 15 Dec 2011
Be your own Bozza
There are those who sniff at developments in mobile phone movie making as a passing fad for young’uns, but in townships in South Africa, the mobile is leapfrogging the computer as the media platform of choice. In locations where most don’t have television, and certainly don’t have computers, everyone has a mobile - and most are internet-enabled. People who have never used a mouse or keyboard are accessing content through their phones, and Bozza is an organisation aiming to to make that content local.
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 25 Nov 2011
A transmedia goldmine
I hit a goldmine of transmedia discussion recently when I came across the TEDx Transmedia site. A whole TEDx conference dedicated solely to talks on transmedia, and all the videos from the latest conference held in Rome in September are online.
In Depth Kylie Boltin 23 Nov 2011
Other Israel Film Festival: Interview
The fifth annual Other Israel Film Festival, in New York, recently wrapped. It was a program that included the highly controversial Israeli documentary, A Place of Her Own by director, Sigal Emanuel.
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 10 Nov 2011
One Millionth Tower
One Millionth Tower, the next instalment in the ambitious NFB project Highrise, has just launched. Continuing on the central theme of highrise living, One Millionth Tower shifts focus from the global spread of the previous Highrise release Out My Window, and goes hyper-local, to a highrise housing block on the outskirts of Toronto. Subject to the same decay as many similar tower blocks around the world, the Toronto tower is windswept and unwelcoming. The filmmakers brought together residents, architects and animators to discuss their hopes for the precinct, and then to visualise these ideas.
In Depth Kylie Boltin 14 Oct 2011
Lest we forget, journalists on the front line
Ahead of the Australian premiere of Shooting Vs Shooting: Dying for the Truth at the 18th Greek Film Festival, I spoke with journalist/director Nikos Megrelis about his quest to pay tribute to the journalists who lost their lives reporting from the front line in Iraq.
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 13 Oct 2011
Occupy Wall St on film
I’ve been keeping an eye on the Occupy Wall Street protests, watching the Twitter updates and sifting through a few articles. YouTube also provides the odd bit of insight; this cute kid dancing provides a sweet reminder of what it’s all for, and this is a suitably energising video of Slavoj Zizek also reminding protesters of why they’re there (although the transcript is a bit quicker).
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 4 Oct 2011
Antenna countdown
The international guests have arrived, the wine is chilling, the projector is warming up and the organising team is trying to squeeze in a few last minutes of sleep, all in preparation for the opening night of Antenna International Documentary Film Festival on Wednesday.
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 15 Sep 2011
Best of INPUT
Over a coffee, Julia Overton is waxing lyrical to me about public television: “Australia doesn’t get much in the way of strong public discussion, but with public television you can tease out issues - help people deal with what’s happening to them,” she says.
In Depth Kylie Boltin 6 Sep 2011
What's news, Nick Broomfield?
Veteran British documentary filmmaker, Nick Broomfield is shifting gears. Having wrapped his forthcoming documentary feature Sarah Palin: You Betcha! – set to premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival - Variety has reported that the director is now poised to helm a narrative feature set in Congo.
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 16 Aug 2011
Inside Goa Hippy Tribe
Filmmaker Darius Devas’s father was on Facebook, with a friend total of two - one of whom was his son. While Devas was visiting his father in Byron Bay though, in the space of a month his friend count rose from two into the hundreds. It seemed that this pattern was occurring simultaneously around the world, as old friends from the Goa hippy trail were rediscovering each other online. A reunion was planned, and Devas knew he had his next film project.
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 12 Aug 2011
Possible Worlds - Jeff Topham interview
Photographer and filmmaker Jeff Topham looks a little bewildered to find himself staying in the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, but with the Possible Worlds Film Festival picking up the tab, including for the beer he’s just ordered, he’s not complaining. The shiny hotel foyer is certainly a far cry from Liberia, the location of Topham’s documentary film, Liberia ’77, which is screening at the festival on Saturday. Liberia ’77 is about Jeff and his brother Andrew returning to Liberia, where they spent part of their childhoods, and discovering a country slowly trying to heal itself after horrendous periods of civil war.
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 11 Aug 2011
Possible Worlds - Jay Cheel interview
The Possible Worlds Canadian Film Festival is well underway in Sydney, and I caught up with Canadian filmmaker Jay Cheel, whose film Beauty Day is screening on Friday (and which I reviewed recently).
In Depth Julia Scott-Stevenson 28 Jun 2011
Refugees United
After watching Go Back to Where You Came From last week, along with seemingly the rest of Australia given how much I then heard everyone talking about it over the following few days, the content has stayed with me. So it was fitting that I stumbled over a recent multimedia piece by MediaStorm on the same issue.
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Spirit of Gallipoli (Book)
Patrick Lindsay's book shows that to understand the Anzac spirit we must first understand the spirit of Gallipoli.
Anzacs in Arkhangel (Book)
The untold story of Australian soldiers caught up in war and revolution during the invasion of Russia in 1918-1919.
Modern History & War - DVDs and books
For more fascinating books and DVDs relating to modern war, go to the SBS Shop.
