VCA Graduate Screenings 2019 – Book of the Old Ways
A boy returns as a winged spirit to reclaim the love and warmth of life before his death.
Interview with Director Jeannie Psomoulis
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
This story comes from a place far away, a place of lost things. I lost my mother as a young child, and though years have passed, a part of me has always lingered in the ghost of those old days – and, even now, my films have always danced the line between childhood whimsy and the darkness beyond. To me, fantasy is a boundless playground where absolutely anything is possible - and having loved the Old-Hollywood aesthetics of Spielberg and Tim Burton, I was so excited to craft a small film with big-budget flavours, whilst keeping a true and pure heart.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Watch this film if, like me, you love an old-world fantasy spectacle with a big chunky heart - One which takes you on a heartfelt roller-coaster through joy and tears and laughter and whimsy, and all the wonderful colours in-between.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Taking inspiration from Peter Pan, my film touches on themes of love and death and the spaces in-between. Birdie is a character longing to return to the way things were before he died - he is trapped by memories of a long-lost past.
I think in a lot of ways, many of us also tie ourselves to lost places in time. Whether it's the nostalgia of yester-years, an old love, a death from long ago, what-so-and-so said about us the other day. Many of us choose to be ghosts in our present world. We forget to appreciate the fleeting preciousness of 'right now'. We'll have the warmth of old memories always in our hearts, but the reality of the present moment is ours once and never again.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
It's funny, but technically this film has been in development since I was about nine years old. As a kid, I used to love coming up with characters and imagining the worlds they came from. Birdie and the children were always some of my favourites, so letting them come to life on screen was such an exciting idea!.
Naturally, there was a challenge in giving them a narrative which could be condensed to a short film, and be translated to the contemporary world.
I’ll be honest, I wrote this film in a blissfully ignorant daze of not really thinking about the practicalities of pulling it off. When the time came to actual pre-production, I became painfully aware of all the things I needed to figure out before the shoot. Child actors? Check. In the middle of the night in the dead of winter? Check. With rain machines. Got it. Animatronic wings? And CGI? Let’s put actors underwater, or string them from a ceiling. The original draft of the script had a car chase too, I’m not even joking.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I've been blown away by the feedback so far. Hearing tiny sniffles in the audience during the climactic end scene is so humbling, and considering how personal the film is, I feel so blessed that the film has resonated with people.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I spent so long during post-production agonizing over tiny points of difference. There were points of I wasn't particularly happy with even in the end, but I was surprised to see that nobody really noticed or cared about the things I had been so pedantic about. At the opening screening, the projector made the film seem dramatically flatter than the film looked in the colour grade, and I was thrown watching it, but people were coming up to me telling me how much they loved the colours in the film. A bizarre but liberating revelation.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I'd love to be able to meet people with similar interests as me, and I'm also open to people contacting me in regards to the film or future projects.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Anyone and everyone interested!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I'd love for this film to touch people's hearts, make them laugh and smile and cry - for a moment forget about reality, get swept into the air, and go on an adorable adventure with Birdie and the children.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Is love stronger than death?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I've got a few really exciting projects I'm working on at the moment. Birdie came from a colourful world inside my head, and I'm still exploring the rest of the world, meet some of the other characters, and perhaps even expand Birdie's story!
Interview: December 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Book of the Old Ways
A boy returns as a winged spirit to reclaim the love and warmth of life before his death.
Length: 19:47
Director: Jeannie Psomoulis
Producer: Haris Fazlic
Writer: Jeannie Psomoulis
About the writer, director and producer:
JEANNIE PSOMOULIS was raised in Melbourne, Australia, to a pair of travelling business-hoppers. As a result, Jeannie spent most of her childhood climbing trees in the zoo, scurrying around her play-centre, and whipping up a glitter-storm at her family’s Christmas shop. What developed was an imagination teeming with childhood wonder and a love for storytelling. Jeannie is a recent graduate of the Master of Film and Television course at the Victorian College of the Arts.
HARIS FAZLIC is a freelance film producer and a graduate of the Master of Producing course in the Victorian College of The Arts (University of Melbourne). Haris has a background in professional wrestling and a strong passion for the art of storytelling.
Key cast: Max Neal (Birdie), Ellie Stewart (Charlie), Thomas Cox (Benji), Tilly Legge (Mum), Alexander Artemov (Little Birdie)
Looking for: sales agents, distributors, journalists, film festival directors, producers, buyers
Facebook: Book of the Old Ways
Instagram: @bookoftheoldways
Hashtags used: #bookoftheoldways