Private Project

Secret Matters

Secret Matters opens a door to the reclusive award winning writer, Gerald Murnane’s hidden world and leads us to his passion.., to a faraway culture and a love affair.

  • Janos Zoltan
    Director
    A Man Who Was His Own Enemy - Director, The Army of Love - Director, Cinematographer, No Measure of Health - - Cinematographer, I Look at Diamonds for a Living - Cinematographer
  • Janos Zoltan
    Writer
    A Man From The Other Side - Co-Director
  • Shannon Owen. Steve Thomas
    Producer
    Black Man's Houses
  • Gerald Murnane
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Secret Matters / Titkos dolgok
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Student
  • Genres:
    Biography, Drama
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 2, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    15,000 AUD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia
  • Language:
    English, Hungarian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • The Victorian College of the Arts Graduate Screenings, Best Documentary, Best Production Awards
    Melbourne
    Australia
    November 17, 2016
    Best Documentary Award, Overall Best Production Award
  • Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
    Melbourne
    Australia
    July 12, 2017
    Nominated
  • St Kilda Film Festival
    Melbourne
    Australia
    May 17, 2017
    Nominated
  • Atom Award
    Melbourne
    Australia
    September 6, 2017
    Nominated
  • Canberra Short Film Festival
    Canberra
    Australia
    September 12, 2017
    Officially selected
  • North Bellarine Film Festival
    North Bellarine
    Australia
    November 20, 2018
    Officially Selected
Director Biography - Janos Zoltan

Janos Zoltan is a graduate filmmaker at the Victorian College of the Arts, in Melbourne. Having completed a Master Degree at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at University of Melbourne, he received the Documentary Best Production and the Overall Best Production Awards in 2015. As an experienced and passionate filmmaker who is looking for new adventures, he is one of the co-founders of a social impact startup film-studio, INSPIREFLIX. Janos has already produced award winning TV programs and documentaries in his native country but after his emigration to Australia he became an acknowledged filmmaker who works on challenging projects on the basis of collaboration of the University of Melbourne, VICSEG New Futures non-profit organisation and the City of Port Phillip. His documentaries has been selected and award nominated in the major Film-festivals in Melbourne and all around Australia, and worldwide.

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Director Statement

I met Gerald Murnane 10 years ago in Melbourne, Australia at a celebration of the anniversary of the Hungarian revolution against the communist regime that happened on the 23rd of October, 1956. On this event he delivered a very haunting speech, partly in Hungarian for the listeners of the Hungarian Community. Then already a prestigious Australian award-winning author, he said the following: (…) about thirty years ago, I suddenly decided how best I could repay the young female freedom-fighter and, with her, the many freedom - loving Hungarians who had influenced my life so much. I decided that I would one day learn the Hungarian language.“

Later on I have learnt about some strange habits of his from his book. Gerald is a man who still works on an old typewriter, has never touched a computer or a mobile phone and has hardly left Victoria at all. Approximately 6 years ago I went to visit him in Macleod/Melbourne but I did not pay too much attention to his filing cabinet at the time. I found out later that after the death of his wife in 2009 he moved to Goroke (Victoria).

That change in his circumstances is a rather meaningful one. Although he has won numerous awards and received much attention from writers as well as academics from around the world and was once nominated for the Nobel Prize, he does not have a large readership. He only has a small-scale home with all the twelve steel filing cabinets in a remote country. His place is colourless and uninspiring. His wife’s ashes buried in the local cemetery and he is the member of the golf club, the Men’s-Shed and the Community Hall in Goroke. But once you step in his place and pay attention to his drawers, you will find yourself lost in a labyrinth of the universe.