It's all on down here at the moment, and the big news is pretty big.
The Culture and Arts Minister of Western Australia announced the other day that Screen West would be backing The Reef to be made into a feature film.
A statement from the Australian Chamber Orchestra said:
The Reef – the recently released concert from world renowned violinist Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, is to be made into a unique feature film in Western Australia. The Reef is an immersive experience in music and film. With no spoken dialogue the film journeys us through a Mythic Day on the awe-inspiring Gnaraloo Reef, and the coastal inland of Western Australia’s Coral Coast, creating an analogy for our entire lives – dawn to dusk, birth to death, with all the joy, hardship and beauty in between.
“Developing The Reef was one of the most adventurous mind and body expanding experiences an orchestra could ever have. To travel to this region with the purpose of creating a project, and then embarking on a tour that exceeded all our expectations, was a life changing experience. The idea of the film is to take us higher and deeper into this amazing journey. The inspiration for the entire project has come from Western Australia and it is fitting that the film will be realized in WA, with the wonderful support of the WA Government.”
The concert version has and will be playing to worldwide audiences (Australia, Maribor in Slovenia as part of the Maribor Festival, and soon Hong Kong, Europe and the US), and will now be translated to the big screen. With substantial material already filmed in WA, the next stage of filming will be mid-year back at Gnaraloo and inland from there, with a predominantly WA crew.
The Reef will be produced by Richard Keddie of the Melbourne based company - The Film Company; and co-produced, written and directed by Mick Sowry; along with Perth producer Cheri Larsen. Mick Sowry, Richard Tognetti and Richard Keddie teamed previously to make the multi award-winning film MUSICA SURFICA. The ACO is also a producing partner."
Which in a nutshell means we have a big year ahead.
Pretty damn cool too.
Preceding this we are about to embark on a REEF tour of eastern Australia, seven performances in total in this phase of the ever evolving Reef Redux. Tickets selling fast so anyone on East Coast Oz who reads this better visit the Australian Chamber Orchestra website to get a ticket now.
Another series of journeys that started with a random email back in 2007. Check back to that far in this blog and you can read how it unfolded. Crazy stuff.
Another series of journeys that started with a random email back in 2007. Check back to that far in this blog and you can read how it unfolded. Crazy stuff.
As for the rest of life, the occasional surf led to an experiment yesterday when I borrowed the board at bottom and was lightly mind blown. Of course I fell and goosed out but found the joy eventually. Given the relatively crappy conditions all I can say it is very fast, very agile and a bit of a thought machine. It also paddles amazingly well, at 5'8" it picks up waves like a board 8 inches longer. That I'm as old in numbers as the board is long think about your board choice if you think being 'a certain age' is limiting you. There are alternatives that lead to a lot of carvy fun.
Shots today, some Reef screen grabs, a return to Rachmaninoff, and that board.
The Reef. Vocalise. from The Reef on Vimeo.
