MDFF 2021 - Harbour Lights
In Melbourne Australia at the turn of the 20th century a pioneering network of women at the Mission to Seafarers supported sailors who risked their lives at sea.
Interview with Writer/Producer Lucinda Horrocks
Watch Harbour Lights here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
We wanted to share the story of Melbourne's iconic Mission to Seafarers building with a broader audience. We also wanted to explore some little known aspects of the city's history - the amazing networks of women volunteers who existed in Melbourne at the time, the diverse workforce who worked in shipping, the way seafaring connected Australia to the world.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If you love Melbourne you will love exploring Melbourne's rich past in this film. The archival footage, old photographs and soundscape takes you on a journey you won't forget.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The universal themes are connection and commerce, the risks we take for both, and the efforts we have tried as a community over time to help ameliorate the harms of dangerous work like shipping in the inherently exploitative world of commerce.
The personal themes are what did it feel like to be a seafarer in that tough, rough, greedy early 20th century world? How scary must it have felt to be a merchant seafarer during the First World War?
And what drove a group of 20th century churchgoing Anglican women and men to try to make the lives of seafarers better?
Cutting across all of these themes are the dynamics of a permanently changing city and the lives and ambitions of its inhabitants.
Melbourne today is still a centre of commerce, constantly changing its structure and workforce. Today as a hundred years ago Melburnians respond to very real global threats.
And seafarers still do very similar dangerous and lonely work, bringing goods across the world so we can have access to clothes, technology, equipment, cars and other things that come in on container ships which
we consume pretty much without thinking.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The film evolved a lot. Documentaries always do. We started with some basic themes we wanted to explore, and then we did a lot of research. One of our challenges was that there was very limited primary research into this history so we didn't have a go-to book or expert we could connect to. So it took a long time to develop the narrative elements. We don't usually script until we are well advanced into production. Usually a full script will only emerge at paper edit stage.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We have had many people tell us they just loved watching the footage and photographs of early Melbourne. People who live in Melbourne often tell us how the film surprised them about the history, and telling us they want their kids to see it. Even historians have been surprised by the film and photographs we unearthed, asking us where we found the images, when they were taken and so on.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
It surprised us to find there were people so interested in the history. But in a good way. I think there is a bit of a history revival happening in Melbourne and Victoria at the moment.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We would like more people to watch the film and send us their takes on what they enjoyed learning about.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Distributors, directors, journalists would be great to help us connect to that audience.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Good films are conversation starters. It would be great to begin conversations about those universal themes we talk about above. We always hope that our films will spark new questions and new research and more conversations.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Two questions:
What are the human costs of our interconnected world of global commerce and trade?
And
Why have women's contributions to history been so neglected?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We have been doing a lot of pitching as most of our productions went on hold for the last 20 months as the COVID crisis restricted our work. We are looking forward to starting those projects up again. One is a really interesting project on Aboriginal rescuers/first responders in Victorian history. Hopefully we will have more to tell you soon.
Interview: October 2021
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
Harbour Lights
Length:
17:51
Director
JARY NEMO is a director, producer and co-founder of Wind & Sky. He has worked in the media industry for four decades. Based in Australia he started out as a photographer and has worked across multiple disciplines throughout an eclectic career. He has worked in the music, theatre, advertising and film industry. His work has screened internationally in cinemas, on broadcast television, at institutions, in museums, galleries and film festivals.
Writer/Producer
LUCINDA HORROCKS (producer, writer) and JARY NEMO (director, producer, writer) are the co-founders of Wind & Sky Productions, an independent film company specialising in documentary storytelling. An award-winning team, they have produced over 30 short documentaries.
Key cast:
Sharon Turley (Narrator), Kate Darian-Smith (Interviewee), Jill Garner (Interviewee), Gordon MacMillan (Interviewee), Chris McConville (Interviewee), Janet Miller (Interviewee)
Looking for:
journalists, film festival directors, distributors, buyers
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/WindSkyProductions
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/lucinda_windsky
Hashtags used:
#harbourlights
More info:
https://windsky.com.au/harbour-lights/
Where can I watch it now?
Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Online