Talking Pictures Frances Calvert  

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FILMS   :::   TALKING BROKEN


description :: credits :: press :: festivals 


A portrait of the Torres Strait Islanders

1990, Germany/UK, 76 mins, 16mm & video/DVD

English & Kala lagaw ya with English subtitles; German subtitles

'Broken' is the creole spoken by the Torres Strait Islanders in far north Australia. Although they appear to keep up with 'the system', the hidden language of the authorities will always remain a mystery. With humour and intelligence, various Islanders talk openly about subjects as wide-ranging as independence, culture, tourism, adoption, sex and sorcery. Yet it becomes clear that not all Islanders are aware of their vulnerability in the face of outside forces.

Produced in association with Channel Four Television

Made with financial assistance from Kuratorium junger deutscher Film, Berliner Filmförderung, Evangelisches Missionswerk Hamburg, Stiftung Umverteilen Berlin/Projektgruppe Pazifik e.V.

TELEVISION SCREENINGS
Channel Four Television, 1991
ABC Television Australia, 1991 & 1992
ARTE/ORB/SWF Germany 1994


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CREDITS

Directed by
Frances Calvert

Produced by
Lindsey Merrison & Frances Calvert

featuring
the Torres Strait Islanders

Camera
Peter van den Reek

Sound
Pat Fiske

Editor
Stewart Young

Music
Original music of the Torres Strait Islanders
Karl-Heinz Stockhausen


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PRESS

'...a fine work...The people in the film are extraordinarily articulate and intelligent.'
Malcolm Arth, Margaret Mead Film Festival

'...an outstanding film which rises above being only anthropological and becomes a comment not only on the lives of the Islanders but on what civilisation means.'
Ken Wlaschin, AFI Los Angeles Film Festival

'...such films...enlarge the world for the viewer and overturn any misconceptions'
Declan Hassett, The Cork Examiner, Ireland

'How to find a taste of paradise...'
John Tidmarsh, 'Outlook', BBC World Service

'This is not, however, a typical 'protest' documentary. Calvert's film is clearly a labour of love, providing an open and startling portrait of the Torres Strait Islanders from various angles....Frances Calvert's portrait of their lifestyle and their beliefs is a rich one (condom ads, a feast of wry observations and the appearance of one Chairman Mau are some).'
Norman Miller Channel Four

'An island people stirs in the face of paternalism'
The Dominion, New Zealand


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FESTIVALS

Augsburg/ Tage des Unabhängigen Films, Germany (prèmiere 1990)

Bilan du film éthnographique, Musée de l'homme, Paris

Festival International de Créteil (Festival de Femmes)

Los Angeles International Film Festival

Internationales Dokumentarfilmfestival, Munich, Germany

Filmforum: Ethnologie und Dritte Welt, Freiburg, Germany

Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia

Sydney International Film Festival, Australia

Wellington and Auckland Film Festivals, New Zealand

Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York (opening film)

Cork Film Festival, Ireland

Internationales Dokfest Leipzig, Germany

Festival dei Popoli, Florence, Italy

 

FILMOGRAPHY:

TALKING BROKEN (1990)
writer, director, producer

CRACKS IN THE MASK (1997)
writer, director, producer


CURRENT PRODUCTIONS:


WELCOME MONEY
(writer, director, co-producer)
- a documentary about attitudes to consumerism in the former GDR.


THE TOMBSTONE OPENING
(writer, director, co-producer)
- a documentary that centres on the unique ceremony of farewelling the spirit of the dead in Torres Strait


HADDON'S HEROES
(writer, director, co-producer)
- a whimsical drama documentary about Torres Strait Islanders' active response to Europeans in the era of early film and attempts to rejuvenate their contemporary culture.