By KATH GANNAWAY
THE official launch of the film The Weatherman’s Umbrella at The Memo in Healesville last week drew huge applause from the very first words on screen.
“A community-made film in Marysville, Victoria”.
The film, inspired by Bruno’s Sculpture Garden in Marysville, screened to a sell-out audience on Thursday, 14 January, 2016.
The audience included the Marysville cast and crew and their families, Director Anne Richey, well-known Australian actor, John Flaus, and people from Healesville, keen to show their support and see a remarkable film.
Produced on a micro-budget it was filmed in and around Marysville and funded on a profit-share basis with people involved in the making.
Introducing the film with Daryl Hull who played The Weatherman and Bruce Morrow, one of the producers, Ms Richey thanked everyone who had been involved.
“It’s been the best, most fantastic way to spend the last few years,” she said.
“Everyone gave 110 per cent to the project.”
She personally thanked, among others, Bruno Torfs. “Your sculpture garden inspired the whole thing,” she said.
Mr Morrow, whose daughter Lilly played a leading role of the spoilt, city kid, Sarah, said so much had come out of the project.
“The (Black Saturday) fires made a huge impact on all of us, but then we realised we have a special bond that’s hard to put into words,” he said.
“Anne came to Marysville with this beautiful script.
“For her to find a small community Like Marysville, and then to find so much talent, you would think that sort of thing just doesn’t happen.
“And, then to find a ‘Darryl’ … that really just would not happen,” he said.
John Flaus, who has acted in over 100 roles in film and television and 50-odd plays, echoed that sentiment, describing the film as a wonderful exercise in imagination.
He and well-known actor, John Wood, were invited to Marysville by Ms Richey to do a reading.
“We were the only two people who were not residents of Marysville,” he said.
He admitted to having doubts when Ms Richey proposed making it into a film.
“She was not using professionals or the sort of equipment usually used in the industry, but it was still possible to get a good film made and I was happy to do it and had a great time doing it,” he said.
“To think that a community of a few hundred people were able to make this picture with their own talents and raw materials, without infrastructure and the funding that usually goes with this sort of project, is just wonderful.
“When you think about it, it is probably unique in the history of cinema.
“I think this film should be shown all over the world as an inspiration.”
There was ‘opening night’ excitement following the film, and one or two ‘star-struck’ fans, as the cast and crew mingled with the audience, signing autographs, answering questions and posing for photographs.
The future of the film is open-ended. It screened in Federation Square earlier this month as a preview and is booked for another screening there.
Ms Richey said it is also available for community and group screenings through the online film booking group FanForce.
FanForce enables filmmakers without a distribution deal to get their films before audiences without personal financial risk.
The option is open to cinema operators, community groups and charities to host a screening and sell tickets as a fund-raiser and can widen the scope of a release such as The Weatherman’s Umbrella.
For more information about this beautiful, unique film, visit www.theweathermansumbrella.com.
To ‘FanForce’ a screening of The Weatherman’s Umbrella visit https://fan-force.com/create-screening/?theweathermansumbrella# .
