AACTA AWARDS 2024

The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart wins the 2024 AACTA Award for ‘Best Mini-Series’.

Had a lot of fun making this for Telstra via The Monkeys. DOP - Germain McMicking, Production Designer - Lucinda Tomson, Editor - Shannon Michaelas at The Editors, VFX - Alt.Vfx, Sound - Squeaky Clean. Thank you Exit films!

I have worked with Alt.Vfx for years. They are a visual effects company that focuses on helping the filmmaker realise their vision in the most unobtrusive, yet supportive way. When I posted the above VFX breakdown on my Instagram, I revived quite a few messages from people saying they had no idea there was any VFX in the series, in reality there is over 400 different shots, which is a huge testament to their work.

VALE MAC GUDGEON (1949 - 2023)

Mac Gudgeon, Lake Mungo, 2008

One of the most important decisions I have made in my career was to be a ‘Director’ and not a ‘Writer  / Director’.  The moment I realised I could work with writers, I became really productive and I’ve been productive ever since. I cherish working with writers as a creative experience. But the chemistry has to be right.

Writer Mac Gudgeon taught me a valuable approach. In 2008 during early development for my first feature film Last Ride, Mac and I went on a camping road trip through the desert where we were imagining the film would take place. We had clicked as friends, I felt comfortable in discussing my ideas for the film, about story, character and tone. Mac encouraged me to open up more and more. He said, the more I know what’s in your head, the more “I’ll write the film you want to make.” It was a huge moment for me and I could see how powerful working with a writer could be. It could be symbiotic, A writer could write what I wanted to make and in return I will make the film they want to write. 

I have taken this approach with every writer I have worked with since. It gave me the confidence and the understanding that I could bring the sense of authorship I desired through working closely with writers who I shared a common vision with. It’s kind of straight forward in hindsight, but at the time is far less clear. Thats the kind of wisdom Mac passed on. Honest, to the point and with conviction.

Mac was a great man and a great writer. He taught me many things and gave me many gifts. More than he would ever have realised. He will be missed but will live on in our hearts and minds.

THE SEARCH IS BACK for 2023

Somewhere along the way, when I was editing Penguin Bloom in 2019, I couldn't find the energy to do ' The Search' anymore.

The Search, a personal challenge of making a photo and publishing it here, was a practice I held dear.

The Search fed a hunger to create and kept my eye alert. It helped me tune that sense of what draws my eye to something. Perhaps most importantly, because I had to take the photo on the day and publish something regardless of quality, it helped breed a healthy attitude of ''not letting perfect get in the way of good'.'. Something all artists struggle with.

A few years later, during the 'Lost Flowers' edit, even though I took my camera with me everywhere, I found it was weeks, maybe months, between photos. This felt weird to me. Wrong even. But towards the end of a long film project, I'm drained physically, mentally and emotionally. There is no room for anything else.

I get so much joy from photography, and I need to find that joy again. So the daily practice is back.

Whatever I may find regarding images, I hope it helps me rediscover my love for photography, of observing and searching.

Happy New Year!

Ashleigh and roses. Los Angeles.

I finished editing The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart last week. Six months of cutting with two of the best editors, Deb Peart and Dany Cooper. 

An incredible amount of footage to work through. All up, we shot (including pick-ups) for 108 days. According to our Assistant Editor ‘Chappers’, we shot 183 hours, 31 minutes, 52 seconds and 01 frame of footage. 6347 separate shots. Now all that is reduced down to 7 x 1-hour episodes! A huge process with an incredibly collaborative team. 

Although I can think of no better way to spend a Melbourne Winter than working with and creating with friends in an edit suite, it’s good to be ‘out’. There is such a huge sense of relief when locking a cut; regardless of how finished it feels, a considerable weight lifts. 

This edit (this project), has been all-consuming, all of my creative energy has been focused on the edit with very little room for anything other than ‘the show’. Everything else, including my photography practice, has dropped away.

But the other day, I took my camera out for a walk and took some photos, just for fun, the way it should be, and it felt so great, like a breath of very clean and fresh air.

Another couple of months of sound and colour grading and Lost Flowers will be complete. So looking forward to getting it out there!

Brunswick, Melbourne.

Grafton, NSW.

Brunswick, VIC.

Arrerente Country.

Love to Grafton and the surrounding Northern Rivers region. We were shooting Lost Flowers there only a few weeks ago and now a lot of it has been destroyed by flooding. The above photo was taken at a sugar cane farm situated on the Clarence River, where we shot for a week. I was sent an image the other day showing the entire property under water. So devastating for the whole community.

Shooting Lost Flowers.

Scouting for Lost Flowers. Sydney. NSW.