Dorrigo Film

I spent last Friday afternoon in Dorrigo. I love Dorrigo, it’s about an hour away from my home and it’s a small plateau town in the Bellingen Shire. It has some incredible bush walks and beautiful National Parks, and it is a cold place to play soccer. My boys have both played up there as part of their annual circuit.

On Friday, I also saw that Dorrigo is home to a rich and vibrant Aboriginal community. Dorrigo, as with my home, is in Gumbaynggirr Country.

The Dorrigo community held NAIDOC Day celebrations last Friday, and I went up there to meet up with people, and to make a film for the ABC Coffs Coast website.

 

National Parks Discovery Ranger, Mark Flanders

 

You can see the film at the website, along with photos and audio of the event.

It was a fantastic day.

NAIDOC

I had a fantastic afternoon on Friday, I spent a few hours at Dorrigo High School for their NAIDOC Week celebrations.

Jay Greentree with her Dreambox

I was up there with the Port Macquarie ABC Open Producer, Wiriya Sati. We met some incredible people. I filmed and interviewed a fair few of them and now I’m editing together a film for the ABC Coffs Coast website and some sound to play on the show tomorrow. I will link the film up here so you can see it.

I have wondered about the impacts of a “Day” on a community before. Is it just tokenistic or does it really impact on people? I came away feeling that the NAIDOC Day celebrations in Dorrigo, did have an impact on community perceptions and relationships.

I suppose standing alone, a “Day” might have little impact but together with a group of people who a ready and willing to learn and change and work together, its impact can be huge.

I remember the Bridge Walk for Reconciliation on May 28, 2000. I was nine months pregnant and we sat at the edge of the bridge, watching 300,000 people share the same vision and being offered a way to express it. It’s about timing and capturing a mood. And that is what happened in Dorrigo in Friday.

The One That Got Away

This is a film I made last year. It’s the story of a friend of ours, Max Mander. He’s eight and he loves to fish.

I filmed this on a Sony HD and edited it on Final Cut.

The One That Got Away

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Flooded In

My partner, Simon Portus, and I made this short film together in 2007. We made it as part of a Radio National documentary I made about people who get flooded in regularly near us, in Thora.

These same people have recently been flooded in for over a week.

Flooded In

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12seconds

I started the 12words project in 2009. It’s been fun and thousands of people have connected to write and rate stories. Now I’ve decided to grow the project to 12second films.  Everyone loves the idea, but they get a bit overwhelmed by the idea of making a film in 12 seconds.

So I’ve made an example – simple and short.

This is a 12second film I made with my 8-year-old son, Tully. We filmed it on a Canon 60D and edited it on iMovie. It took us an hour.

Tully’s Hip Hop

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My Films

I’ve upgraded my wordpress to put some of my films up here but for some reason it’s being temperamental. Love technological glitches. So, as a little taster, here’s my youtube with one of my favourite films. ‘The One That Got Away’ is a 3 minute film I made about a year ago. I filmed it on a Sony HD and edited it on Final Cut.

It’s the story of a little boy who is passionate about fishing.

I will be putting some more films up over the next few days.

The One That Got Away

Flooding

Storm brewing

You may have heard about the recent floods on the Mid North Coast of NSW. It was a big week for farmers and for people who live on flood plains, at the peak of the floods, 14,000 people were isolated, unable to cross low-lying bridges or roads covered in water.

The floods hit on my third week working in at ABC Coffs Coast. A fast learning curve, I was suddenly part of a team maintaining our small website 24

hours a day, ensuring our road and weather information was up to date. I was constantly listening to coverage, editing and uploading all interviews that would be relevant to people checking our website.

I did manage to get out of the studio for a short time though, and I grabbed a few shots of the floods around me.

The Urunga Golf Course…

Closed Roads

Flooded fields