Hello, My Name is Mother Nature: From Classroom to Arts Centre
Something You Said’s Addy Fong had the pleasure of interviewing Pamela Manos, Producer and Screenwriter of Hello, My Name is Mother Nature along with Misty McPhail, Manager of Made in the West Film Festival, and Phoebe Repeti, who works as part of the Digital Programming Team at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre.
Pamela Manos and Darcy Vincent’s film Hello, My Name is Mother Nature began as a student project, won Made in the West Film Festival’s Audience Choice awards both at the festival and online, and recently screened at The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre until the 29th of April.
Pamela, your film Hello, My Name is Mother Nature began as a university project. How did it end up being screened at Blacktown Arts?
PAMELA: It started as a major project for university and at first we didn’t see it outside the scope of a university project because it was such a big feat for us. Our essential idea had to be about the environment, we wanted to do something that wasn’t quite on the nose of what is already out there, your typical saving the environment type of content, we wanted to do something kitschy and creative. It started from the ground up and after we finished our project, a lot of our tutors encouraged us to submit to Made in the West. As someone who’s been to the festival before I thought it’d be a great opportunity, this could get us out there. Misty from Made in the West reached out and then after the festival you guys (Blacktown Arts) wanted to show it. I couldn’t say no to an opportunity like that. We never thought it was going to get to this stage, it’s been crazy so far, it’s nuts.
MISTY: Hello, My Name is Mother Nature was selected for the festival and the judges noted it as one of the leading films to watch. We were really impressed by the fantastic audience response on the night. The film won the Audience Choice at the festival in November and then screened online from the 1st of December to the end of January as part of our online festival over summer. Hello, My Name is Mother Nature won the Audience Choice, the People’s Choice Award online and took home Best Comedy which has been fantastic. We did a live announcement of the winners on the Pagey Train Podcast, and we were so excited to see a Western Sydney University student not only get into the festival and have such a great screening but win two of the Audience Choice Awards in the process. It’s so impressive, it hasn’t been done before, certainly not by Western Sydney University students so we were super happy. A week later after our online festival, Phoebe from Blacktown Arts reached out interested in screening some of the films.
PAMELA: It’s been so surreal. I think about how challenging student filmmaking is, where we were those first few weeks, these things have happened, I don’t think we ever imagined this, it’s been crazy.
MISTY: And that’s where Made in the West Film Festival began, as a student run film screening night, to be able to get our films in front of a live audience. Over the course of the last 12 years, we’ve expanded, we have broadened our aims, but Made in the West is about being able to provide a platform for new Western Sydney filmmakers to be seen and regarded for their work, to gain a bit of attention and be celebrated for the quality of their work. This seems true as the online festival caught the eye of Phoebe at Blacktown Arts and made it into their Digital Screening Programme. Phoebe, is The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre is an exhibition, a gallery space?
PHOEBE: We’re more than just the gallery. We do performance, public art, and events, we have a workshop space, we do digital content such as virtual gallery tours.
MISTY: That’s interesting, I don’t even have words to describe it! How did you become involved with Blacktown Arts and how did it lead us to you?
PHOEBE: I’ve been working Blacktown Arts for a year now and it’s a very community focused organisation. We’re part of Blacktown City Council, we are a government entity and we’re lucky enough to have a gallery space and a performance space. We do things like theatre, workshops, public programs, exhibitions, and we have done screen in the past. This year we did Blacktown Shorts, we support people to create work, and there’s funding involved. We’ve always really enjoyed it. This is the year of film for Blacktown Arts, we’re doing lots of film this year. Before I worked here, I knew about Made in the West and I’d been following Blacktown Arts. Last year we wanted to have Made in the West on, but we didn’t have a spot for it. This year worked perfectly. I watched all the films, made my short list, and voted for Mother Nature as my People’s Choice. I thought the film was clever and hilarious and an interesting take on climate change and I loved the main actress. We did a walkthrough the other day and I’m excited to bring it to Blacktown Arts. We have an opening night for Mervyn Bishop and Darren Bell, around 200 people will be walking through the Centre and there will be many different artists and attendees walking through the space who will see the films. I feel really strongly about Made in the West and all of the works involved.
MISTY: One of the great things about the breadth of content we get through Made in the West is we’re working with different screens across Western Sydney, everybody’s after something different. That’s exciting, to have an organisation in Western Sydney, based in Blacktown, thinking about how to bring together the arts across different mediums, it’s fantastic.
I recently visited Blacktown Arts to see Danny Eastwood’s exhibition: I Talk Through my Art and My Talks Through Me. It provided me an exciting new perspective, everyone I met was friendly, there was lovely community vibe, and everyone was willing to chat. I’ve felt there’s an unspoken divide between, emerging filmmakers, film festivals, and art centres/galleries but this perspective has shifted. Is there a difference between curating for a gallery or exhibition and programming for a film festival?
PHOEBE: Blacktown Arts is a lot of things, we showcase other people’s programmes and curate our own. Last year, we had Gathering Honey, where local filmmakers centered on ideas of place and making. We showed it in Warrick Lane publicly, so we do lots of different types of things. I think Blacktown Arts is the kind of place for that to happen.
MISTY: In terms of curation, we think about the curation of the experience because the films we screen are so different. We’re often putting together the running order, that’s the big thing for us, where we want to start in terms of impact, where we want to finish, and the intermission point so that people are talking during intermissions. If there’s that particularly hard hitting film that’s gonna unnerve people in some way, we bring that back with something a little bit supportive and joyous to bring their moods back up again before we finish. For us, curation is about the flow of that vibe on the night. I find the difference between curation of a gallery and a film festival interesting, perhaps it is about the curating of spaces and the conversations had in those spaces. As a film festival, we have one place which is very thickly populated with conversation and we’re trying to curate how that conversation might flow throughout the night. It’s one of the most enjoyable parts of the process to be honest, we really enjoy thinking about how to roll out the films in such a way that will really spark some interest and conversation.
Speaking of conversation, let’s talk about the script. Pamela, your film contains this parallel between our bleak current day outlook on sustainability and the challenges of modern dating. Mother Nature’s hilariously unsuccessful run of dates throughout doesn’t really give me much hope for either, was this intentional?
PAMELA: Yeah, 100%. I really tried to drive home the point of Mother Nature needing to find herself and know herself. This was a theme I’ve had to learn to myself as I’ve gotten slightly older and I’m still quite young [laughs], that theme of knowing yourself and juggling the dating world. Our team worked closely together and took our experiences to curate the movie’s themes. I did want to take it slightly darker but Darcy suggested we lighten it up a bit. So that kind of balance between our personal experiences and our own relationship with sustainability came into it.
Just clarifying, who wrote the script? It doesn’t feel like it belongs to a particular voice or perspective, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s distinctively Darcy’s or yours.
PAMELA: The script was a close collaboration between Darcy, Emily (Sutcliffe), and myself. I found Emily and Darcy bounced off each other quite well. We had frequent brainstorming and writing sessions where we would go in, nitpick, and readjust. Sometimes I’d tell everyone go and write how they wanted the scene to go and we’d come together and chop it all together. I just found that was the best way to, like as you said, you can feel someone’s voice in a script very distinctively once you get to know them. This way we were able to have a different voice, that wasn’t just one person. I found that was the best way, I would struggle with developing some characters so Darcy or Emily would jump in and we made the process a lot easier. I think it made the characters a lot more defined as well.
I really admire your group’s collaborative approach to filmmaking, the sharing of ideas. It’s probably why the film has been successful, you’re workshopping and forming new ideas from varied perspectives. There’s similarities to Misty’s team of judges who select films for the festival or Phoebe’s team of curators who choose content for the Arts Centre. I think shifting one’s approach from individualistic to communal benefits a wider audience. So, how does a collaborative approach provide a balanced perspective on programming a film festival or exhibition?
MISTY: At Made in the West, we have a really collaborative approach in deciding which films go to the judges. There needs to be a top set of films which go to the judges and that’s really challenging because we all have different films we like. There might be three to five films that we all cross over with but there’s usually 10 or so films we differ on. There’s a little bit of negotiation in terms of audience preference and finding a balance to try and please as many groups within the audience as possible. We have a panel of 10 judges, when those judges scores come in, honestly, they’re all so different. We try to make sure there’s a couple of documentaries, a couple of features, a couple of student films, and some comedy or genre as opposed to other styles. Everybody’s different, right down to the last judge that comes in, they end up making the difference in the balance of scores. I think it would be really difficult to curate such a broad festival with broad appeal if only one person was making the decisions.
PHOEBE: Blacktown Arts is a very collaborative team in pretty much everything that we do, we are all working constantly together. My colleague and I, who also in the digital team, both watched the films. I watched all of them, she watched a few of them and then we compared notes. We are always thinking about what we can do for the audience. It is being played on a loop in the day, we thought it would make the films more accessible. If we were doing just one session and people were booking tickets, we could have played horror or something like that. We definitely think about audience just as much as the artists and what conversation that’s going to have with our community. I find it’s more impactful, we get way more people in and excited about it. People have been emailing already, it’s really cool.
MISTY: I suppose the same collaborative approach comes into your filmmaking, Pamela.
PAMELA: Yeah, I started learning (about) the hierarchy of filmmaking but I think we kind of disrupted it. When you’re making student films, it’s not as set in stone. I’ve learnt so much working collaboratively. There were a lot of challenges during the process, I won’t lie, but without each other, and I’m saying that on behalf of Darcy as well, we couldn’t have done it, we couldn’t have had the traction that we are having now without each other. Our team and everyone at the university really supported each other, it was so important for us to learn how to collaborate cause I don’t think we could have been as close as we are now so it’s been really important, really crucial to us.
MISTY: Indeed, filmmaking is a hugely collaborative process, whether it’s through the tight crew you’re working with, someone on camera, producers, artists involved on screen, those working in post production, all of the parting coming together, it’s a huge, huge process. That’s one of the reasons why we think it’s important to have people see your films. There’s so many films that get made that don’t ever get seen. You can be really proud about it with your friends and crew but the joy of seeing it publicly screened in front of an audience and being able to show your family, your friends, and everybody what you’ve been working on, there’s this real tangible product you can share. I remember our student productions, our tangible products weren’t very good. I remember a vampire comedy set in the halls of Western Sydney University in 2012 that took so long to film. They were so disorganised they ended up needing permission to stay overnight. They were roaming the hallways as Western Vampires filming what turned out to be a terrible horror in all its gory and terrible sound, but it was wonderful. That’s where all the Made in the West awards came in, from 2012 to 2014 we didn’t have any awards but we had some great films coming through but they really just needed to improve on their sound or their story or think a bit more about certain aspects of what the crew was doing. We started introducing awards for all of the crew components because then people would start to consider improving those aspects in their films, and that really did change the quality of films that we were getting.
Misty, I find your mention of the Vampire movie being filmed at UWS back in the day interesting because I know Pamela’s team shot Hello, My Name is Mother Nature on university grounds as well because I remember them returning their film equipment to me after their shoot. I found it interesting the way they used lighting, gels, and composition, and a created a character driven story. We weren’t distracted by the location, the fact that was a classroom or a plain brick wall. Sourcing a location is always interesting, I find it’s a weird barrier some filmmakers have where they feel they need a perfect location to create a perfect movie but it seems this isn’t the case? Does the location of where a movie is filmed alter the chances of it being selected?
MISTY: Certainly not from our side. It was hard to see that it was filmed at the university. Only that final scene by the brick wall was my hint that it was filmed at university because I recognised the wall and the door behind it, so Pamela, you did a really good job. I’m curious, was it challenging for you to think about the space you were in and make it seem like it wasn’t that space?
PAMELA: It definitely had its challenges, we tried filming at a time the university was quieter, but there were still people there, and we thought to try and keep everything as minimal as we could, that way we could sell the illusion, maybe we’re in a community hall or some dingy restaurant backroom. The exterior shots were more challenging but we thought we could try and make look at like it’s the city or something. For the interior shots we definitely tried to keep it as minimal as we could, we used the tables and tried to not use stuff that looked university like but more office like. It did pose its challenges, but once we got into the rhythm of not overthinking and keeping it quite simple, we got our groove.
MISTY: You did a good job. When I was a film student, all the films my team used to make I had the front half of my house one person’s door and the back door some other person’s house. I’ve turned a bedroom into a hospital room by putting extra mattresses on the bed so the bed was higher, and decorated the room with objects that looked medical and it really changes things. It really is about thinking laterally about how to use space and what are the iconic props and lines that you can use that remind your audience of a particular space, and this can be a metaphorical space. You did a great job of removing your sense of place. Normally for us, what we actually end up looking for is some sign of place. We love seeing signs of Western Sydney locations in the background of films or on sets, it’s fantastic for us to watch a film and recognise the locations. We’re really excited about people making films in our region.
Phoebe, of the films selected for Blacktown Arts, were they ones you really enjoyed or a selection that focused on filmmakers from a particular area like the Blacktown LGA? I’m wondering about this cause I know Darcy is local to Blacktown like I am, I wondered if that’s a factor?
PHOEBE: I didn’t know that, that’s cool. I gave a short list of 7 to 8 films initially and then we made it shorter but I think it’s just a nice coincidence. I’m pretty sure the trolley film (An Orange and The Eye) is from Parramatta but we like to support the Greater Western Sydney region, it’s not just Blacktown. For some things like Blacktown Shorts and with some of our funding opportunities, often it is just Blacktown LGA but I think programmatically and we like to open it up to the whole of the West because it’s not just Blacktown that needs platforming.
MISTY: It’s great to know that Darcy is from Blacktown. Yes, An Orange and The Eye is from Parramatta and Ali from Blame the Ovens is from Parramatta-Strathfield and Leopard is from Bankstown. We often have people who ask us for films that have a connection to a certain place because Western Sydney is a large region and a council from Penrith or Campbelltown or Blacktown might just want to feature something local. We often have people asking us to filter the short list based on particular ideas whether it’s genre or perhaps female filmmakers or from a particular place. We’re really pleased that wasn’t something that you needed Phoebe. This is the first time I’m learning that you have a focus that’s outside of Blacktown, the moments I’ve crossed paths with you have been at film screenings and often that comes off the back of a grants process. It’s fantastic you think Western Sydney wide because we have a bit of challenge with that, with different councils just wanting to stay thinking about their own location, which is fair enough. Often the collaborative approach filmmakers have between Blacktown and Parramatta, Parramatta across to Liverpool, and Liverpool across to McArthur, there’s so many connections and ultimately Western Sydney artists and creatives crossover a lot in that space. I love that you think that way and what it actually does is it ends up centring Blacktown Arts within the broader arts community, adjacent to others as opposed to thinking of it as a separate being.
It’s great there’s such a diverse range of Western Sydney Filmmakers represented. I’ve loved our conversation and just seeing all these little connections we share. What’s your thoughts about the future of Western Sydney Creatives?
PAMELA: When I think about the future, oh my gosh, it’s crazy. I’m heading in a realm outside of film, I’m doing reality right now, but I’m not shutting the door. Being from Western Sydney, I’ve always thought I’ve had a story. I have a rich cultural heritage, I’m Greek so living out here’s been really great and I’ve had so many stories relating to my cultural heritage and going to school with so many different people. I think that’s such an important thing I’m taking with me to my future career, this rich cultural understanding. I’m excited to see what the future holds. I’m not saying no to anything, I’m embracing the fact that I’m a Female Western Sydney Creative, and I’m excited for the future and the endless possibilities I think I can achieve.
MISTY: When I think about Made in the West and looking towards the future, we have spent the last 10 years trying to connect Western Sydney Artists and Filmmakers with an audience and our focus moving forward is about trying to connect Western Sydney Filmmakers with opportunities and industry. To be able to help cement the industry and film scene that is growing here in Western Sydney is fantastic.
PHOEBE: Yeah, we’re really happy to support Western Sydney Filmmakers, especially through Made in the West and we’re keen to see what the future holds.
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Many Thanks to Misty from Made in the West, Phoebe from Blacktown Arts, and Filmmaker Pamela Manos for their time. Show them some love and keep updated with their next creative endeavours:
Blacktown Arts blacktownarts.com.au
Made in the West www.madeinthewest.com.au
Pamela Manos, 4Head Films instagram.com/4headfilmsofficial
Interview by Addy Fong. Photo credits: Made in the West Film Festival, Blacktown Arts, Nataly Thomson.
