Filmed in the heady 80s, when I was still in my teens, Bertolt was shot mostly in Freo (that’s Fremantle, Western Australia for our international film buddies).
A bunch of Curtin Uni students, an Arri BL and a $5,000 grant from the Australian Film Commission’s No Frills Fund.
It’s 14 minutes long, a bit arty and heavily influenced by namesake David Lynch (God Bless his donuts). The really interesting thing is that more people have seen Berty Boy here on the web than who ever saw it at the cinema and we toured the country with it!
Bertolt was shot on 16mm with a ratio of about 3:1. We had 6 x 10 minute rolls of AGFA PAN36 B&W film (especially made for us by the good folk at AGFA), a 1967 camera from the ailing curtin Film Department and a bit of 2nd hand Nagra stock. Most of the sound was redone in post because locations recordings were too noisy. More often than not there was a crew of 1 or 2 on the shoot. Usually me (Ed) and Michael Bond (DOP).
It was shot in about 7 days and we really took our time (you can see this effort in the lighting).
Me and Mike gave a talk on this film at the Melbourne International Film Fest because it was considered extremely cheap, we were young and it looked to be a promising model for low-budget feature filmmaking.
Little did I know that it would be 20 years before I could conjure up the skills to write a feature script. that’s what happens to us self-critical creatives. We often drown in a sea of not good enough ness.
If only Geoffrey’s story generator had been around then. You lucky ducks.
I find it ironic that I’m currently in pre-prod on a feature film with a budget only 10% ($500) of Bertolt’s (Women of Various Ages). It’s Phil and I’s pre-cursor to Beware the Stingray. Stay tuned for that Mother.
