The Inspiration
Stream of consciousness
In this unique moment in modern history we find ourselves at a crossroads. Do we continue to work as we have as a species? Or do we try and work together more? What will emerge from this huge paradigm shift?
This catastrophe however will end. We will all know of someone or have friends who have lost someone in this tragedy. Then the next challenge will be to revitalise and reinvigorate our economies and reintegrate into our communities. It also gives us an incredible opportunity to re-organise and re-examine how we run and structure our lives and systems.
For artists and craftspeople in the film industry, our collective work in film and television programs have provided a relief and catharsis from the anxiety and boredom of isolation. The industry has been decimated and it will take months if not years for investors who will have lost millions in this financial crash to recoup their confidence to start investing again in our projects.
There is a collective fear, panic, worry and existential crisis as well as the actual crisis. The truth is that there are many communities around the world who feel this on a daily basis, whether it be war, famine or isolation. Lets use this opportunity of shared empathy to change the paradigm to include these communities into the creative process. It is time that we really act together as one. We hope politicians can share medical help, lift sanctions and take this moment to act as a world family.
What we can do as artists and supporters of the arts is create meaningful work; stories that will unite us through the pain and sorrow of what is passing and lift us up towards the future.
That is why we have created: Anti ViralFilm Project
Our mission is to assemble and unite a huge team of film practitioners and pre-produce 19 films over the time of this crisis. Which can go into production once the doors reopen.
We will be working as a community with the aim of making art out of this disaster. We will give ourselves focus and meaning in this period of uncertainty. The end result will be to go into actual production of films, so we come out of the other side of this with projects to dive into.
We aim to make films of differing genres that have been birthed during this time of containment. I expect that the themes will reflect this but they do not have to exclusively. For example, stories of human hope, connectivity, humour and love would be preferable to a bank heist but if you have something to say through that genre, by all means explore it.
Do you want to be part of this?
We will first seek writers to pitch diverse stories that will be film-able of a low budget. The stories will be chosen on merit, but I envision there will be a mixture of themes that represent the experience we have gone through as a species, as well as nations. Ideally this will capture the imagination of the international community and other centers of film making around the world will also become emergent centers.