Friends of the Armchair Traveller

  My friend Richard. In 1997 I had a really great year teaching 10 students in the “documentary” stream at the VCA Film and TV School. Richard Leigh was one of those ten very fine students. I had no idea at the time that we would still be very close friends, 24 years later. As a student I always found Richard ready and willing to engage deeply on any subject under discussion, he created fine work in that year, as did all of his fellow students, and then the following year some of those lovely young people continued to attend screenings I ran after hours. A bit later Richard and two others set up an internet magazine called “Documenter”. Lucky me: they asked me to interview Albert Maysles of the Maysles Brothers team, Albert and his brother David, who created the magnificent work “Grey Gardens” and “Salesman” , which I had introduced to that group when they were my students. Over the years which followed I kept in touch with some of these fine people, but the connection with Richar...

  This might be something for Armchair Travellers...   it's the Sydney intro but the films, though not the introductions, are screening later this year in Melbourne. Monday, 29 March 2021 Lina Wertmuller at the Randwick Ritz - Jane Mills introduces Seven Beauties: The Films of Lina Wertmüller, a retrospective of seven films at the Ritz at Randwick, Sunday 28 March – Sunday 9 May, 4:00 pm. This season of films is presented i n collaboration with Cinema Reborn, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Sydney, and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities. For tickets   CLICK HERE Introduction by Associate Professor Jane Mills, UNSW https://filmalert101.blogspot.com/2021/03/lina-wertmuller-at-randwick-ritz-jane.html Thanks Geoff, pt

  This post comes from my friend  Tom Cowan .   Tom and I have known each other almost 60 years now, which means we are both very ancient. Tom has created many fine films in his lifetime and recently completed a low-budget independent feature film called  "LIFE CLASS 1920"   which was  awarded  "Best Narrative Feature" at the   Venice California   FINE ARTS FESTIVAL  .   Tom has recently created a very short piece showing  a selection of images done by artists who were creating the works which characters in the movie would complete.   As well as supplying art that appears in the feature movie, the artists were inspired by the experience of the shoot to create works about the production. About 90 art works resulted from this activity and these were exhibited along with the initial screening of the movie. Here is the brief video Tom made from a few of the art works: "Life Drawing Story"   LIFE DRAWING STORY from ...

Recently I posted one of Camelia's vimeo pieces,  "Nacre Fields" , but until now I have not posted any of her photography. Today I present some images which I've chosen from Camelia's website: Olio-su-tela-dettaglio-2013 Fumi-di-nostalgia-2014   OmaggioArte-Raffaello-Sanzio-La-Fornarina-2013 Spiritus-Artifex-Tellus-Orbis-Responsum-olio-e-carta-su-legno-dettaglio-2013 Camelia's web site: http://www.cameliamirescu.com/?lang=en I'm extremely pleased to present Camelia's work.  As with many of our friends Camelia lives in Europe and is surrounded by the ever-present Covid 19 crisis. It's very difficult knowing one's friends are continuously exposed to this virus. Keep safe Camelia, pt

Just the other day I received an article via The Smithsonian about building a school in Madagascar using “printjet” techniques: The World’s First 3-D Printed School May Soon Be a Reality Thinking Huts, a nonprofit founded by a 15-year-old, plans to kick off construction in Madagascar this summer Well, these ideas are not really so new, they’ve been around a while now, but they’ve certainly come a long way since I first read about them. Printing buildings with giant printjets has been tried over many years and in many places.  From Wikipedia: The 3D Print Canal House was the first full-scale construction project of its kind to get off the ground. In just a short space of time, the Kamermaker has been further developed to increase its production speed by 300%. However, progress has not been swift enough to claim the title of 'World's First 3D Printed House'. [59] The first residential building in Europe and the CIS , constructed using the 3D printing construction technology...